most writers have described. The view from it is delightful. Of an evening, the sun sets in the Atlantic with almost matchless splendour; and from the heights are seen the romantic shores of Spain, the sea that separates Europe from Africa, and the mountains of Barbary.

When the town was taken by Sir George Rook (in the reign of Queen Anne), the service was not thought worthy of gratitude. It has ever since remained in the hands of the English, and now it is prized at a rate, perhaps, even more than it is worth. Thus is it, most men sit in authority just as Rapin sat in judgment on Homer, Thucydides, Plato, and Demosthenes. He knew nothing of Greek; they, therefore, little or nothing of political interests.

Cromwell estimated better. Whether any one place 'be attemptable,' wrote he to Blake and Montague*, ' especially that of the towne and castle of Gibraltar, 'which, if possessed and made tenable by us, would it

not be bothe an advantage to our trade and an annoy

ance to the Spanyard, and enable us, without keep'inge so great a fleet on that coast, with six nimble 'friggotts lodged there, to doe the Spanyard more 'harme than by a fleet, and ease our owne charge? 'The Lorde guide you to doe that which is pleasinge ' in his sight.'

Mr. Fox said, in the time of the American war,— 'We must never give up a possession, which divides 'France from France and Spain from Spain +.'

See 'Thurloe's State Papers,' iv., 745.

XCIX.

WHOSE LIVES AND WORKS ARE DIFFERENT.

BERNI'S Latin poems are in the style of Catullus; but they want the tenderness of that poet. His Orlando' we read with some indignation; for it is a mere recomposition of Boiardo's 'Orlando Innamorato;' so much better done than the original, that it has entirely superseded it. His personal character was vicious; and if we would derive pleasure from the works of many of the most eminent Italian cultivators of literature, it were better not to make ourselves too intimately acquainted either with their morals or habits.

Men of talent, especially artists, are but too often loose and vicious not only in their manners but in their morals; those who cultivate their minds largely, however, are seldom so. Mere talent is but an equivocal possession, after all.

C.

NO MAN'S MEMORY SAFE FROM PARTY MISREPRESENTA

TIONS.

SOME men have rough manners, equivocal conduct, and yet kind hearts; and we may adduce, as an instance, General Santerre, commander of the guard at the execution of Louis XVI. For many years this person was held up to the detestation of Europe, as one of the basest of mankind. By almost all parties he was consigned to ignominy and abhorrence; yet, some years after the deed, to which his name most essentially belongs, a royalist and a patriot thus embalms his name :

'The muscular expansion of his tall person, the sonorous hoarseness of his voice, his rough manners, and his easy and vulgar eloquence, made him a hero ' among the lower rabble; and, in truth, he had gained

a despotic empire over the dregs of the faux-bourgs. 'He moved them at his will; but that was all he knew

how to do, or could do: for, as to the rest, he was nei'ther wicked nor cruel. He engaged blindly in all conspiracies; but he was never guilty of the execution ' of them, either by himself or by those who obeyed 'him. He was always concerned for an unfortunate person, of whatever party he might be. Affliction and tears disarmed his hands.' This passage was written by Mons. Montjoie; and had that writer been a revolutionist, I should have doubted the faithfulness. of the portrait, and not have engraved it here. M. Montjoie, however, was a royalist, and knew his subject well.

From this picture, and others which it would be far from difficult to select, we may learn, that no man's character can be estimated for history till after the expiration of half a century, if he belong to a party; and not to be regarded at all, either for good or for evil, if his biographer, or the historian, chances to be a bigoted priest.

Dr. Formy called Fox, the quaker, a man of turbulent spirit. Penn, however, declares that he was so meek, contented, easy, and steady, that it was a pleasure to be in his company; that he exercised no authority over evil; but that every where, and in all, with love, compassion, and long-suffering. Then, as to

Penn himself: who has not heard of his mildness, his eloquence, his modesty, his general virtues, and his justice of legislation? Yet Bishop Burnet says, he had such a high opinion of his own eloquence, that he thought nothing could stand before it; and that he had a tedious, luscious way, that was not apt to overcome a man's reason, though it might tire his patience. Compare all this with 'Sewel's History of the Quakers,' and Clarkson's Life of Penn;' and then determine whether the recorded opinions of partisans, and partywriters, are worth even so much as the fiftieth fraction of a gnat's wing?

CI.

WHO DELIGHT IN DRAWING PARALLELS.

THE French are very expert at association. Barthelemy draws a parallel between Herodotus and Thucydides; another associates Buffon with Aristotle, Pliny, and Linnæus. Fontenelle contrasts the merits of Racine with those of Corneille; D'Alembert associates those of Corneille with Bossuet; Thomas draws a parallel between Sully and Colbert; Herault between the ages of Augustus and Louis XIV.; and Voltaire between the characters of that king and our William III. And here it may not be irrelevant to remark, that Father Rapin, who wrote the parallel between the Greek and Latin poets, orators, and historians, is said to have been ignorant of Greek; and that Perault, who laboured so strenuously to dethrone the ancients, was not only ignorant of Greek, but of Latin.

Some have associated the names and reigns of Charlemagne and Peter the Great; Anthony de Bandole draws a parallel between Cæsar and Henry IV.; and one of the best portions of De Bury's memoirs of the latter is, where he describes the coincidences in the life, character, and fortune of that prince with those of Philip of Macedon.

Parallels may sometimes be found in States. Thus in the relative rise of Tyre, Carthage, Venice, and Genoa; in rivalships, as in the instances of Persia and Greece, England and France: in confederacies, also, as in those of the Achæan, Helvetic, and Belgic leagues.

CII.

POETS UNJUSTLY APPRECIATED.

VIRGIL Would have been esteemed a necromancer, had our ancestors had no opportunity of correcting the folly of the darker ages *. Some insist, that Virgil has not one attribute of a poet, but a pure and exquisite style: Lucan's beauties, in the opinion of some, are reduced to his love of liberty, generous sentiments, contempt of death, and his sublime personification of Jupiter. Virgil, according to some†, moves like a prelate; Lucan, like a bold, victorious general; and as to Terence, he has no character, no plot, no incident, no wit. Style is his only merit; and his dramas were written only for mathematicians!

*How the folly of esteeming Virgil a necromancer rose, may be seen in Hist. P. Virg. Mar, a Car. Ruæo.

+ Verulanus.