and entire without any hole in it; and withall showed ine there was no such hole on the other side opposite, that I might not suppose it to be naturall. The cure he used, as near as I remember, was * * * * * * poured down her throat together with a certain hearb thrust into her jaws after it. This notable cow-chirurgeon was very secret in this other part of the cure and much wary lest I should know it, but a little of it happening to fall after him in the administration was found and shown me, which I perceived to be no other than ragg-wort, whereby the beast recovered.

"And lately I was told of a woman, who, some years agoe having a cow which was said to be elf-shot and died from her, there was found in the flesh of her, (being given to poore people for meat) a piece of a fairy dart, as they supposed it to be, which the woman keeps to this day, and makes use of as an amulett, which hath a medicinall virtue, as for other cows, so especially for the safe and sure bringing to bed of women. I have not yet found this woman, though I sought for her to the end only I might see that piece of dart."-Part of a Letter from Mr. J. K. fol. 24. M.S. Ayscough Catalogue, 4811.

*The remedy is too gross for repetition.

BAYLE AND HIS IMITATORS.*

THE "Historical and Critical Dictionary" of Bayle is more interesting as a magazine of opinions than as a collection of facts, though even in this last respect it is not without very great value. It is a continuation of Moreri, and they who possess the former book on account of its historical matter, ought not to be without the work of his industrious predecessor. Bayle's critical castigations of Moreri are generally passed over by modern readers, as is the case with most personal satires, scarcely even excepting those of Dryden, Pope, or Churchill, the force of the venom dying with the object of it. The spirit of acrimony, thank Heaven, is seldom, if ever, immortal.

No antiquarian ever wasted more time and learning in settling the day and hour, whereon the foundation stone of an obscure parish church was laid, than Bayle has thrown away in correcting the petty chronological errors of Moreri. The most interesting conclusion from this feature of the "Historical and Critical Dictionary" is that patience of investigation and minuteness of knowledge may exist in a mind, which is rich in imagination, and

* It may be necessary to observe that this appeared in a Magazine, of which I was the editor a few years ago.

elegant in taste. But in parts also where he does not at all clash with Moreri, Bayle is exceedingly deficient in narrative matter. He omits, too, the lives of innumerable great characters of other nations; and often introduces people of no importance, merely for the sake of finding a vehicle in which some of his particular opinions may travel from his study into the world. It is not a work of systematic biography. There is for instance a life of Dante, but there are no notices of Petrarca and Ariosto. His omission of the lover of Laura is singular, for he had described with wonderful minuteness the real passion of Abelard and Heloise; and the case of Petrarca was a convenient opportunity for speculating on Platonic affection. The opinions in the dictionary are more numerous and interesting than the facts, for the author was a man of wonderful intellectual powers; he reflected deeply, and like the few men, the homines centenarii, who have done so, he found in his own mind all the germs of thought. Yet his borrowed knowledge was immense; a steady application and a retentive memory soon made him master of the facts, and a mind pliable to every shape readily associated itself with the opinions of former times. There are few of the subjects of religion, philosophy, and conduct that he has not examined, and always as it would seem with a perfect indifference to the issue of the investigation. He has none of those feelings of ardent love for his species, none of those longings after immortality, of which, as parts of the nature of man, no philosopher with all his assumption of impartiality ought to divest himself. No wonder that he is an advocate for unbounded toleration of opinion, for no man tried so severely the patience of society. Jeremy Taylor, in his "Liberty of Prophecying," had professed indulgence to all those who acknowledged the truth of the Apostles' Creed, although they differed on theological subjects not

mentioned in that symbol; John Locke, in his "Treatises on Toleration," excuses all variations of religious opinion except the errors of Popery; but Bayle's liberality of tolerance was without a limit. The circumstances of their lives, and their particular sentiments on some important subjects, naturally enough conducted them all to their respective conclusions on this subject.

But to return to the topic of the Pyrhonism of the Dictionary. No cause of heresy ever falls to the ground for want of ingenious support. The author states with firmness and strength the tenets of the Manicheans and the Spinozists; his replies show the folly of the religion of the one and of the philosophy of the other; but still he gives the mind no opinions to rest upon, for the futility of human reason is the conclusion to which all his arguments lead us. He does not allow himself even to repose on those probabilities, with which the academies of old were satisfied, much less would he acknowledge the wisdom of the school men's practice of deciding as well as discussing. The dread of penal inflictions on himself for his indifference as to religion was obviously on the mind of Bayle, when writing most of his dictionary. He occasionally appeals to the Scriptures as if he were a faithful son of the Church; but his religious quotations are introduced so coldly, and with so little power, that the reader is continually reminded of those brief moral sentences which a novelist often thinks it decent should conclude a glowing description of voluptuousness. Bayle was as intimately acquainted with the historians and poets as with the philosophers of antiquity; and perhaps no author quotes with so much propriety. Horace seems to have been his favourite classic, for there was much similarity of taste between them, both being gay, goodhumoured, witty, and elegant. In spite, however, of his intellectual polish, no man's imagination is more riotous

and prurient than that of Bayle. He is never so happy as when the task is to explain and describe an affair of love. Page after page of his work is full of arguments, suppositions, learned references to Ovid, Tibullus, Petronius, and Catullus; and the reader, while disgusted at his author's immorality, is astonished at his genius and learning. This part of the subject is exceedingly remarkable, for it is agreed on all hands that Bayle was only a speculator in the amorous science.

What the Anatomy of Melancholy was to the wits of Queen Anne's reign, the Dictionnaire Historique et Critique was to the beaux esprits of France during the last century. Voltaire had so superficial an acquaintance with the classical languages that he could not of himself master the systems of ancient philosophy; nor did the pursuit of drawing-room applause at Paris leave this creature of vanity leisure for study or contemplation.* Books, however, were to be composed, for wit was fashionable; and a new jest, whether oral or written was occasionally necessary to dissipate the ennui of courts or to soften a monarch's frown. Infidelity, however, and immorality were the great subjects which were to be the foundation of every work. The marriages between the

*The hatred that this shallow Frenchman bore to Shakspeare— for shallow he was with all his wit-led him to adopt a system of meanness and falsehood that must stamp him with eternal infamy in the mind of every honest man. Having first pillaged the poet and drest himself up in the spoil, he afterwards attempted to destroy his reputation, just as the high-way robber of old used to knock his victim on the head lest he should at any time bear witness against him. I subjoin a reference to a few of his letters illustrative of this topic, as many may like to see what this idol of the French can bring forward in disparagement of Shakspeare, who would have very reasonable objections to wading through his voluminous writings. See the Letter to the Duke of Choiseul, Lett. 288, vol. 60, p. 512.-To Horace Walpole, Lett. 287, vol. 60. p. 505.-To H. Pancoucke, Lett. 224, vol. 60, p. 377.