"all, as an ingenious Welchman that hath "learned Greek may eafily do, will be able "to illuftrate the harmony of languages, ancient " and modern (Latin alfo comprehended, be"cause it is little elfe but Greek). He will "alfo thereby be enabled to illustrate many

things in antiquity which yet lie in darkness; "and the difcoveries he will find himfelf able "to make in thofe things will be fo delightful "to him, that he will scarce be sensible of "his pains. I defigned (had I not been drawn "from ny ftation) to have trained up one to

thefe ftudies, and made him my amanuenfis "but now, having neither good health, nor

66

good fight, nor amanuenfis to help me, nor

quiet enough to do that little I could not "otherwife do, without, I am become in a "manner ufelefs and good for nothing; and "am far from deferving the compliments you "give me respecting these languages.”

"I am, &c.

"GEORGE HICKES."

:

THE Original of the following curious Letter of this learned Prelate is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford:

"Dear Sir,

"Jan. 23, 1711.

"I AM so taken up with writing Addi❝tions to the third Edition of my Book*, "that of late I have fcarce written letters to 66 any; but can defer fending you my humble "thanks no longer for your kind New-year's

gifts, the ftately Almanack and the Orations 66 ex Poetis Latinis; where, after looking upon the title-page, I happened to dip into page

46, when I caft my eyes on the Sortes Virgiliana of Charles I.

Et bello audacis populi vexatus," &c.

"This gave me fome melancholick reflec"tions for an hour or two, and made me call "to mind the ftory of Bernini and his buft, burnt at Whitehall. It made me alfo call

to mind the omens that happened at the "Coronation of his fon James the Second,

* Hickes's "Thefaurus." When Pantherus the learned German faw the first Edition of this Book, he exclaimed to Mr. Thwaites, who fhewed it to him, "Per "Deum nihil Gallia fub aufpiciis Ludovici magni magnificentius aut auguftius edidit."

56

" which

"which I faw viz. The tottering of the "Crown upon his head; the broken canopy "over it; and the rent flag hanging upon the "White Tower, when I came home from the "Coronation. It was torn by the wind at "the fame time the fignal was given to the "Tower that he was crowned. I put no

great ftrefs upon these omens, but I cannot

defpife them; most of them, I believe, came "by chance, but fome from fuperior intel"lectual agents, especially thofe which regard "the fate of Kings and Nations. I pray give

66

my moft humble fervice to Sir Ph. Sydenham "and all my friends; and accept the fame from "him who is, with true refpect,

«Sir,

"Your most obliged and

"humble Servant,

"GEO. HICKES.*

"To the Rev. Dr. Charlett,

"Mafter of University

"College, Oxford."

ANDREW FLETCHER,

OF SALTOUN.

THIS upright Patriot used to obferve of the cant appellations of his time, Whigs and Tories,

that

that they were names made ufe of to cloak the knaves of both parties. "Prejudice and opinion," fays this excellent man, 66 govern "the world, to the great darkness and ruin "of mankind; and though we daily find "men fo rational as to charın by the dif "interested rectitude of their fentiments in "all other things, yet when we touch upon any wrong opinion of theirs (with which they "have been early prepoffeffed), we find them "more irrational than any thing in nature, and "not only not to be convinced, but obftinately " refolved not to hear any thing against them." He faid, that when he was at fome German University, he was told of a perfon who was hereditary Profeffor of Divinity there, at which he fmiled. He was anfwered, "Why not an "hereditary Profeffor, as well as an hereditary “King *?”

The fpeeches of Fletcher never took up above a quarter of an hour, and are filled with

"The moft terrible of all calamities," fays the good and acute Pascal," are civil wars. They must most "affuredly take place, if you pretend to recompenfe 86 merit; for every one will tell you, that he has merit. "The evil then to fear from a fool, who fhould happen "to come to the Crown by hereditary fucceffion, is "neither fo great nor fo certain."-Penfées de Pafcal, part 1. article 8.

I

matter

matter and found reafoning. The Orators of the prefent day feem to think, with Dom* Noel d' Argonne, that what they want in depth, they ought to make up in length; and their hearers appear to forget another obfervation of this acute Carthufian," that it is furprising, «fince eloquence has begun to be fufficiently "known, that it fhould ftill continue to dupe " any one."

GEORGE THE FIRST,

[1714-1727.]

THE following account of this excellent Prince, is taken from a Pamphlet written by Mr. Toland in the year 1705,

"The Elector George-Louis was born in "the year 1660. He is a middle-fized, well"proportioned man, of a genteel addrefs, and

good appearance. He is not much ad"dicted to any diverfion except hunting. He "is referved, fpeaks little, but judiciously. He "underftands our Conftitution the best of any

Foreigner I ever knew; and though he is "well verfed in the art of war, and of invincible 66 courage,