But to write worthy things of worthy men,
Is the peculiar talent of your pen :

Yet let me take your mantle up, and I
Will venture in your right to prophefy.
"This work, by merit firft of fame secure,
"Is likewise happy in its geniture:

100

"For, fince 'tis born when Charles afcends the throne,

"It shares at once his fortune and its own."

105

EPISTLE THE SECOND.

TO MY

HONOURED FRIEND,

DR. CHARLETON*,

ON HIS

LEARNED AND USEFUL WORKS; BUT MORE PARTICULARLY HIS TREATISE OF STONE-HENGE, BY HIM RESTORED TO THE TRUE FOUNDER.

THE longest tyranny that ever sway'd,
Was that wherein our ancestors betray'd

* The book that occafioned this epiftle made its appearance in quarto in 1663. It is dedicated to King Charles II. and entitled, "Chorea Gigantum; or, The most famous Antiquity of Great Britain, Stone-Henge, ftanding on Salisbury-plain, reftored to the Danes by Dr. Walter Charleton, M. D. and Phyfi cian in Ordinary to his Majefty." It was written in answer to a treatife of Inigo Jones's, which attributed this ftupendous pile to the Romans, fuppofing it to be a temple, by them dedicated to the god Cœlum, or Coelus; and here that great architect let his imagination outrun his judgment, nay, his fenfe; for he described it not as it is, but as it ought to be, in order to make it confiftent with what he delivered. Dr. Charleton, who will have this to be a Danish monument, was countenanced in his opinion by Olaus Wormius, who wrote him feveral letters upon the fubject;

Their free-born reafon to the Stagirite,

And made his torch their univerfal light.

yet, that he was mistaken, appears by the mention made of Stone-Henge in Nennius's Hift. Britonum, a writer who lived two hundred years before the Danes came into England. Though his book was approved of by many men of great crudition, and is not only very learned, but abounds with curious obfervations, it was but indifferently received, and raifed many clamours against the author.

Envy, however, could not prevent Dr. Charleton's merits from being feen, nor divide him from the intimacy of Mr. Hobbes, the philofopher; Sir George Ent, a celebrated phyfi cian; the noble family of the Boyle's; and Dr. William Harvey, whofe claim to the difcovery of the eirculation of the blood, he forcibly defended against the claim thereto fet on foot by father Paul. Thus he

"From dark oblivion Harvey's name fhall fave."

As that eminent phyfician was now dead, the doctor's beha viour upon this point was as generous an instance of gratitude and refpect to his friend's memory, as it was a proof of his capacity and extenfive learning. He was prefident of the college of phyficiaus, from 1689 to 1691, when his affairs being not in the moft flourishing ftate, he retired to the ifle of Jersey, and died in 1707, aged eighty-eight years. DERRICK.

Ver. 1. The longest tyranny] The rude magnitude of StoneHenge has rendered it the admiration of all ages; and as the enormous ftones which compofe it appear too big to land-carriage, and as Salisbury-plain, for many miles round, fcarce affords any stones at all, it has been the opinion of fome antiquaries, that thefe ftones are artificial, and were made on the fpot; but most authors are now agreed, that these ftones are all natural, and that they were brought from a collection of ftones called the Grey Wethers, growing out of the ground, about fif teen miles from Stone-Henge.

The ufe and origin of this work have been the fubjects of va rious conjectures and debates; and much it is to be lamented, that a tablet of tin, with an infcription, which was found here in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and might probably have fet thefe points in a clear light, fhould not be preferved; for as the characters were not understood by fuch as were confulted upon the occafion, the plate was destroyed, or at least thrown by and loft, The common tradition is, that Stone-Henge was built by Ambrofius Aurelianus. Some will have it to be a funeral monument VOL. II.

5

So truth, while only one fupply'd the state, Grew fcarce, and dear, and yet fophisticate. Still it was bought, like emp'ric wares, or charms,

10

Hard words feal'd up with Ariftotle's arms.
Columbus was the firft that fhook his throne,
And found a temperate in a torrid zone:
The feverish air fann'd by a cooling breeze,
The fruitful vales fet round with thady trees;
And guiltless men, who danc'd away their time,
Fresh as their groves, and happy as their clime.

raifed to the memory of fome brave commander; and others maintain that it was erected to the honour of Hengift, the Saxon general; but this ftructure is probably more ancient.

Sammes, in the antiquities of Britain, conjectures it to have been a work of the Phoenicians; and the famous Inigo Jones, in a treatife called "Stonehenge Reftored," attempts to prove, that it was a temple of the Tufcan order, built by the Romans, and dedicated to the god Calum, or Terminus, in which he is confirmed by its having been open at top. Dr. Charlton, physician in ordinary to King Charles the Second, wrote a treatife called "Stonehenge restored to the Danes," attempting to prove that this was a Danish monument, erected either for a burialplace, as a trophy for fome victory, or for the election and coronation of their kings. And foon after the publication of Dr. Charlton's treatife, Mr, Webb, fon-in-law of Inigo Jones, pubJifhed a vindication of the opinions of his father-in-law upon this fubject. But antiquaries have fince agreed, that it was an ancient temple of the Druids, built, as Dr. Stukely thinks, before the Belge came to Britain, and not long after Cambyfes invaded Egypt, where he committed fuch horrid outrages among the priests and inhabitants in general, that they difperfed themselves to all quarters of the world, and fome, no doubt, came into Britain. At this time, the Doctor conjectures the Egyptians introduced their arts, learning, and religion, among the Druids, and probably had a hand in this very work, being the only one of the Druids where the ftones are chiffeled: all their other works confitting of rude ftones, not touched by any tool.

Dr. J. WARTON,

15

Had we ftill paid that homage to a name,
Which only God and nature justly claim;
The western feas had been our utmost bound,
Where poets ftill might dream the fun was
drown'd:

And all the stars that fhine in fouthern skies,
Had been admir'd by none but favage eyes. 20
Among the afferters of free reafon's claim,
Our nation's not the leaft in worth or fame.
The world to Bacon does not only owe
Its prefent knowledge, but its future too.
Gilbert fhall live, till loadstones ceafe to draw,
Or British fleets the boundlefs ocean awe.
And noble Boyle, not lefs in nature seen,
Than his great brother read in ftates and men.

26

Ver. 25. Gilbert fhull live,] Dr. William Gilbert was phyfician both to Queen Elizabeth and King James. In the year 1600, he published a very curious differtation on the magnet. Antiquarians are much divided in opinion concerning the æra of the firft difcovery of the loadftone. The Chinese boaft of having difcovered it many centuries ago, but did not apply it to any ufeful purpofes. It is remarkable that Dante mentions it in the Inferno. But the Abbé Tiraboschi, in his excellent Hiftory of Italian Literature, vol. viii. p. 180, obferves, that the most ancient work, after the poem of Guyot de Provins, in which any mention is made of the loadstone in Europe, is in the Eaftern Hiftory of the Cardinal Jaques de Vitry, who died in 1224. It may be found in the 89th chapter of the Collection of Bongars. Adamas in Indiâ reperitur-ferrum occultâ quadâm naturâ ad fe trahit. Acus ferrea poftquam adamantem contigerit, ad ftellam feptentrionalem femper convertitur, unde valde neceffarius eft navigantibus in mari.' We may obferve, that this author attributes to the diamond the virtues of the loadftone. Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver. 27. And noble Boyle,] Every lover of fcience, religion, and virtue, will perpetually venerate the name of the Hon. Rg.