lately burfted from the waterfpouts of irreligion, we may indulge the profpect of a brighter day. Thefe animadverfions, however, are not meant to reftrain a falutary degree of Scepticism. Every one muft agree, that it is defirable to doubt the exiftence of pain. Were this conviction prevalent, we fhould have lefs complaining in our streets. Hunger might then query whether he was difpofed to eat. The unfortunate man, who, journeying with his hard favings to pay an imperious landlord, is ftopped and robbed by the highwayman, might then confole himfelf by doubting whether he had any money at the time he was robbed of fuch fceptical pleasures who would deprive the miferable? But it is the extenfion of such ideas, to affairs where mistake may be ruin, that fome feeling minds are anxious to prevent. Indifference itself, must be somewhat surprised, fhould a man, never gifted with fight, write an elegant treatife on the properties of colour, or, on being prefented with the mafter-piece of a Reynolds, enter into a clear analyfis of its beauties, and point out the nice diftinctions of light and fhade: yet we can hear unastonished the prattlings of Infidelity; and the Bible condemned as fpurious, by those who have never seen a chapter in it, and whofe purblind reasons, had they attempted to difcufs the veracity of Revelation, were too unripe for the trial. To conclude, I would juft whifper to Hilario, that there is fome difference between Mofes and Mithridates; that Jefus and Judas, were not exactly the fame perfons; and, that ere he laughs again at the account of the Sun's having ftood in its courfe, he may do well to reflect if fuch an event was beyond the reach of Omnipotence ! and ask that internal monitor-confcience, whether it is not under fome apprehenfions concerning that day when the progrefs of our great luminary shall be arrefted by the hand of eternity. CONJECTURES CONJECTURES ON THE ORIGIN OF PARADISE LOST. [From Hayley's Life of Milton.] HEN Voltaire visited England, in the early part WH of his life, and was engaged in foliciting a sub fcription for his Henriade, which first appeared under the title of "The League," he published, in our language, an effay on epic poetry; a work which, though written under fuch disadvantage, poffeffes the peculiar vivacity of this extraordinary writer, and is indeed fo curious a fpecimen of his versatile talents, that although it has been fuperfeded by a French compofition of greater extent, under the fame title, it ought, I think, to have found a place in that fignal monument to the name of Voltaire-the edition of his works in ninetytwo volumes. As my reader may be gratified in feeing the English ftyle of this celebrated foreigner, I will tranfcribe, without abridgment, what he fays of Andreini: "Milton, as he was travelling through Italy in his youth, faw at Florence a comedy called Adamo, writ by one Andreini, a player, and dedicated to Mary de Medicis, Queen of France. The fubject of the play was the Fall of Man; the actors, God, the devils, the angels, Adam, Eye, the Serpent, Death, and the feven mortal fins. The topic, fo improper for a drama, but fo fuitable to the abfurd genius of the Italian stage (as it was at that time), was handled in a manner entirely conformable to the extravagance of the defign. The fcene opens with a chorus of angels, and a cherubim thus fpeaks for the reft :-- Let the rainbow be the fiddle-ftick of the fiddle of the heavens ! let the planets be the notes of our mufic! let time beat care. fully the meafure, and the winds make the fharps, &c.' Thus the play begins, and every scene rifes above the laft in profufion of impertinence! "Milton pierced through the abfurdity of that performance to the hidden majefty of the fubject, which, being altogether unfit for the stage, yet might be (for the genius of Milton, and for his only) the foundation of an epic poem. "He took from that ridiculous trifle the first hint of the nobleft work which human imagination has ever attempted, and which he executed more than twenty years after. "In the like manner Pythagoras owed the invention of mufic to the noife of the hammer of a blackfmith; and thus, in our days, Sir Ifaac Newton, walking in his garden, had the first thought of his fyftem of gravitation, upon feeing an apple falling from a tree. "It was thus that, in the year 1727, Voltaire, then ftudying in England, and collecting all poffible information concerning our great epic poet, accounted for the origin of Paradife Loft." COPY OF A COMMITMENT IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE SECOND. T is his Maties pleasure That Thomas Fletcher formerly committed to yr charge for conveying a Seditious Letter, directed to Mr Robt Wallop; from an vnknowne hand, bee kept clofe Prifoner, till he fhall haue difcouerd the Perfon from whome hee had and receaued ye faid Letter. And for foe doing this fignification of his Maties pleasure fhall be for yor Warrant. Dated at ye Court at Hampton Court the 22th of June 1662. To Sr John Robinson Sent and VOL. I. EDW NICHOLAS. D GOSSIPIANA. GOSSIPIANA. [No. I. ] PREVIOUS REMARKS. I would much conduce," & to my Lord Bacon, to the magnanimity and honour of man, if a collection were made of the ultimities (as the schools fpeak) or fummities (as Pindar) of human nature, principally out of the faithful reports of hiftory; tending to fhew, What is the laft and highest pitch to which man's nature of itself hath ever reached in all the perfections both of body and mind."-Agreeable to this opinion I fhall mark the enfuing selection. Should I, however, be induced to ftep afide from the common track of my predeceffors in this walk, and, not content with relating fuch wit and wifdom as hath been dignified by the mouth of diftinction, record obfervations and acts which, though performed by perfons of lighter note, derive import from their intrinfic merit, I trust that the reader will not diflike fuch digreffion. Furthermore be it known, this conduct will more tend to profper my Lord Bacon's purpose than may at firft be imagined. For, it will affuredly exalt human nature to fhew, that independent of the proficiencies of science, it is capable of fo high atchieve ments. So much nonfenfe has appeared in the world, under the fanction of "anecdotes," and fo many collections and extracts have lately been ushered into notice, that I am deterred from a repetition of which the critic is heartily tired. A very few years has produced more in this way, than all the preceding centuries of the world: even if we except the numerous ana which were once the rage in France, and which have fince been retailed in every poffible fhape. Nevertheless, within the recollection of the writer or this article, the public are indebted to many excellent collections for this moft agreeable and inftructive kind of reading: The voluminous, and the petit anecdotift has, in turns, excited our applaufe; the elegant compiler of curiofities, and the cheap gleaner of bon-mots, have each received their reward; and it is prefumed from thefe receptions, that the general relifh is far from fated; while the ftores whence fuch materials were drawn, still remain unexhaufted. Nor is it here requifite to enter at large into the form and merits of Anecdote; a fpecies of provifion univerfally relished and digested. The legacies of fages, ftatefimen, generals, poets, orators, wits, and the like, as bequeathed to posterity in the retort courteous or abrupt, as the emergency of conversation engendered, tend too highly to the honour, and to the refreshment of our minds, to be paffed by with indifference. How benefits the quick intercoufe of life by a display of these treasures. The stream of difcourfe would, without fuch helps, not only glide lefs eafily along, but often meet a total ftagnation. And the man, without a fingle opportunity of gathering real improvement in the fields of hiftory and fcience, may yet advantage others unfearful of raifing their envy, by a ready relation of anecdote. E. CHARLEMAGNE. THE univerfal power of the blind god, is related by every poet, ancient and modern, in terms of fuch confidence as would excite conviction in the reader lefs inclined to try its validity by the ftagyrite, than borne away in the fire of his author. The following anecdote fhould convince us that poets were not always fabulous. Charles the Great, after having conquered many countries, abandoned himself fo much to the love of one woman, that forgetful of his honour and reputation, he D 2 not |