with the allufion to two well-known verfes of Ennius *. 37. Virtutis veræ cuftos, rigidufque fatelles +. Free as young LYTTELTON her cause pursue, A JUST, and not over-charged encomium, on an excellent man, who always served his friends with warmth (witness his kindness to Thomson) and his country with activity and zeal. His Poems, and Dialogues of the Dead, are written with elegance and cafe; his Obfervations on the converfion of St. Paul, with clearness and • Sicut fortis equus fpatio qui forte fupremo Vicit Olympia, nunc fenio confectu quiefcit. Ennius, poeta antiquus (fays Jof. Scaliger, with his ufual bluntnefs) in Scaligerana, magnifico ingenio. Utinam hunc haberemus integrum, & amiffemus, Lucanum, Statium, Silium Italicum, & tous ces garçons-la. The learned M. Moneye, to whom we are indebted for so many additions to the Menagiana, reads with great acuteness, Gafcons-la, by which term he thinks Scaliger points out the inflated, bombastic style of Lucan and Statius. How elegantly, and even poetically, does Quintilian give his judg ment of Ennius; Hunc ficut facros vetuftate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia & antiqua robora, jam non tantam habent fpeciem, quantam religionem. Lib. x. c. I. + Ver. 17. + Ver. 29. closeness closeness of reasoning; and his History of Henry II. with accuracy, and knowledge of thofe early times, and of the English conftitution; and which was compiled from a laborious fearch into authentic documents, and the records lodged in the Tower and at the Rolls. A little before he died, he told me, that he had determined to throw out of the collection of all his works, which was then foon to be published, his first juvenile performance, the Perfian Letters, written, 1735, in imitation • Montesquieu himself alfo fays, that in this agreeable work there were some juvenilia, that he would wish to correct; " for though a Turk ought neceffarily to fee, think, and speak like a Turk, and not like a Christian, yet many perfons do not attend to this circumftance, in reading my Perfian Letters." See an entertaining collection of his Original Letters, p. 180. In this collection are fome curious particulars relating to his great work, The Spirit of Laws. He tells his friend, the Count de Guafco, Though many kings have not done me that honour, yet I know one who has read my work; and M. de Maupertuis has informed me, that this monarch is not always of my opinion. I have anfwered Maupertuis, and told him, I would lay a wager, I could easily put my finger on thofe paffages which the King diflikes." In page 166, he thus fpeaks of Voltaire; " Quant à Voltaire, il a trop d'efprit pour m'entendre; tous les livres qu'il lit, il les fait, après quoi il approuve ou critique ce qu'il a fait. And after wards, imitation of thofe of his friend Montef quieu, whom he had known and admired in England; in which he said there were wards, fpeaking of Voltaire's difmiffion from Berlin, Voilà donc Voltaire qui paroit ne fçavoir ou reposer fa tête; ut eadem tellus quæ modo victori defuerat, deeffet ad fepulturam. Le bon efprit vaut beaucoup mieux que le bel-efprit." p. 198. It is much to be lamented, that the hiftory of Louis the Eleventh, which Montefquieu had written, was burnt by a mistake of his fecretary, p. 98. Mr. Stanley, for whom Montefquieu had a fincere efteem and regard, told me, that Montefquieu affured him, he had received more information from the commentaries of Azo on the Codex and Digest, a famous civilian of Bologna in the twelfth century, than from any other writer on the civil law. He is faid to have had 10,000 scholars. Trithemius mentions him, c. 487. See Arifi Cremonam Litteratam. Tom. i. p. 89. I beg to add, that Lyttelton was not blind to the faults and blemishes of his friend Montefquieu. See notes on the Hiftory of the Life of Henry II. p. 291, 4to, where he is cenfured for an exceffive defire of faying fomething new upon every subject, and differing from the common opinions of mankind. That accomplished lady the Dutchess D'Aiguilion, constantly attended Montesquieu in his laft illness, to the time of his death, 1755. One day, during her absence of a few hours from his chamber, an Irifh jefuit, Father Roth (author of fome fevere criticisms against the Paradife Loft) got introduced to the dying philofopher, and infifted on having the key of his bureau, that he might take away his papers. When the Dutchefs fuddenly returned, and reproached the jefuit for this proceeding, he only answered, Madam, I muft obey my fuperiors. It was owing to the interpofition of the celebrated physician, Van Swieten, that the Spirit of Laws was permitted to be fold and read at Vienna. principles principles and remarks that he wished to retract and alter. I told him, that, not❤ withstanding his caution, the booksellers, as in fact they have done, would preferve and infert these letters. Another little piece, written also in his early youth, does him much honour; the Obfervations on the Life of Tully, in which, perhaps, a more difpaffionate and impartial character of Tully is exhibited, than in the panegyrical volumes of Middleton. 38. Nunc in Ariftippi furtim præcepta relabor *. Sometimes with Ariftippus, or St. Paul, THERE is an impropriety and indecorum, in joining the name of the most profligate parafite of the court of Dionyfius with that of an apostle. In a few lines before, the name of Montaigne is not fufficiently contrasted by the name of Locke; the place required that two philofophers, holding very different tenets, should have been introduced. Hobbes might have been • Ver. 19. + Ver. 31. oppofed oppofed to Hutchefon. I know not why he omitted a strong sentiment that follows immediately, Et mihi res, non me rebus fubjungere conor*. Which line Corneille took for his motto. 39. Non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungi †. I'll do what MEAD and Chefelden adviset. MEAD, a judge of pure Latinity, having difputed with Pope on the impropriety of the expreffion, Amor publicus, on Shakefpear's monument, ended the controverfy by giving up his opinion, and faying to him, Omnia vincit amor & nos cedamus amori. I mention this circumftance, because it may be amusing to the lovers of anecdotes, just to add, that in a public infcription at Rheims in France, RACINE, who drew it up, used the words Amor publicus, in the very fame fenfe. I believe both these great poets were wrong. • Ver: 20. + Ver. 29. † Ver. 51. 45. Invidus, |