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to travel in the habit of a Faquir, to Grand Cairo; he had not been long there, when he accidentally met Maffaoud in the streets, who immediately recollected him, and having accofted him with the most cordial friendship, conducted him to his own houfe, and after having treated him with the greatest hofpitality imaginable declared that he had made an ample fortune by commerce, and offered to affift him with a confiderable fum, by means of which, he might perhaps be enabled to acquire a fortune equal to

that which he had loft. Jaher moft thankfully accepted the offer, and fettled at Grand Cairo, where, by conftantly attending to the advice of Maffaoud, he in a fhort time made a fortune, not much inferior to that which he had been poffeffed of at Bagdad; and being thereby convinced, that it is eafier to acquire wealth than to enjoy it, for the remainder of his life conftantly regulated his conduct by the advice of Maffaoud, whom he knew to be his fuperior in wisdom.

PARALLEL between the Emperor TIBERIUS, and LEWIS XI. of France.

THE

HE refemblance of characters is as proper an object of the attention of the critick in morality, as the refemblance of faces of the painter. Nothing has a greater tendency to improve us in the knowledge of the human heart, the most useful of all others, as it contributes to promote the knowledge of ourfelves. In some characters there are distant and faint refemblances, which can be difcerned by a judicious eye alone; and it would be a vain attempt to endeavour to point out these to the bulk of mankind, who are as incapable of comprehending them as the eye of a fhortfighted perfon to diftinguish in a picture the blendings of light and shade, which are obvious to thofe whofe vifual organs are unimpaired. If the myops approaches the picture nearly, the whole appears a confufed mass of objects roughly delineated; if he retires to the fame diftance with others, thefe delicacies of art entirely efcape him. In he characters of the emperor Ti3

berius and Lewis XI. the refemblance is fo ftriking, that it cannot efcape the most vulgar obferver, and the qualities of their minds fo remarkable, that they are well wor thy of our attention, even without the circumftance of their fimilitude. 'Tis well known that the foundation of the defpotic goverment, which obtains in France, was laid by Lewis XI. who, in order to eftablifh it, never fpared the heads of the grandees of his kingdom. Tiberius, tho' he cannot be confidered as the founder of the arbitrary power of the Roman emperors, fince his predeceffor Auguftus had fufficiently fecured it, was the first who established that fanguinary tyranny, which was carried to fuch an enormous height by fucceeding emperors. Monfieur de St. Evremond has justly observed, that all the monstrous cruelties of Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and many more princes, who feemed born to be the fcourges of mankind, may juftly be laid to the charge of Tiberius,

who,

who, by encouraging the infamous race of informers, occafioned the deaths of many fenators; infomuch, that it at laft became dangerous at Rome to be born of a noble family. As the emperor and the king purfued the fame general plan of conduct, they refemble each other in many circumftances of their lives. Tiberius had for a long time been roughly treated by Auguftus, who had adopted him, and was at laft banished to Rhodes; and Lewis XI. by a dark and froward temper, fell into difgrace with his father, and never entirely recovered his favour and affection. This treatment produced the fame effect upon both their tempers: what they had themselves fuffered by their vices, they revenged upon two virtuous princes. Lewis fhewed the utmoft feverity to his fon, a prince of an excellent difpofition, afterwards Lewis XII. and Tiberius carried his cruelty to Germanicus fo far, that he caused him to be poifoned by Pifo, and Plancina, whilst invested with the government of Syria. They were both equally remarkable for fecrecy and diffimulation. Lewis fo little confulted the great men of his court, that it was pleasantly said by one of them, on feeing him on horfe-back, that horfe must be very ftrong, for it carries the king and his whole council: he even established it as a maxim, that he who does not know how to diffemble does not know how to reign; qut nefcit diffi mulare, nefcit regnare. Tiberius's retreat to Caprea, where be abandoned himself to the most brutal lufts, and governed the empire with a rod of iron, fufficiently fhews how much he resembled the other in a turn to fecrecy: With regard to his diffem

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bling temper, we are told by Tacitus, that he cultivated no quality more than diffimulation, nullam ex virtutibus fuis plufquam diffimulationem diligebat. The fame infatuation poffeffed them both, namely a reliance upon judicial aftrology. The aftrologer Thrafyllus obtained the con fidence of Tiberius, by a prediction which he might have made, without being endowed with the talent ofpenetrating into futurity. Being brought privately over the leads of a house to Tiberius, whilst he refided at Rhodes, and having calculated his nativity, affuring him that he was born to be emperor, he was afked by Tiberius, whether he could forefee what would be his own deftiny; whereupon he was feized with a violent fear, and trembling, declared, that the crisis of his fate approached. Tiberius, who had formed a refolution to cause him to be put to death, was hereby convinced of his veracity, and immediately received him into favour. Lewis XI. had always a confiderable number of aftrologers in his court, and placed a particular confidence in one Coleman. He never made any fcruple of violating his oath, exccept when he swore by a certain leaden image of the Virgin Mary ; and indeed the most material circumftance in which he differs from Tiberius, is the fuperftitious weaknefs which attended his death; whereas the emperor never discovered a religious fentiment, but laid it down for a maxim, that impiety to the gods is entirely venial, deorum injuriæ diis curæ. However, if the antient furpaffed the modern in moft vices, this thould be afcribed entirely to the Christian religion, and not to the fuperior virtue of the latter.

An

Monfie Μ

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Onfieur de Montefquieu, who has written an excellent treatise upon taste, and whose talents for criticism few have prefumed to call in queftion, has expreffed the utmost contempt for lyric poetry, and dogmatically afferted it to be nothing but a rhapsody of harmonious folly: his ipfe dixit will not however, in our opinion, be admitted by judicious critics. Lyric poetry, tho' the most antient, muft be allowed to be the most noble and elevated fpecies of poetical compofition, as it contains more impaffioned fallies, and rapturous enthufiafm, than the tragic, or even the epic itself. The noblest compofitions of this kind are, without difpute, thofe of the royal Pfalmift, which have not hitherto been tolerably tranflated into any modern language, but may be read with pleafure even in profe, and contain much of their original fublimity and fpirit, in the verfion of our countryman Buchanan, who has compofed many original Latin odes, in a much purer and more claffical ftyle, than that of Cafimire, or any of the modern Italians. Pindar furpafied all the Greeks his countrymen, in the fublime and elevated ftrains of lyric poetry; and Horace has moft happily imitated him in the following ftanza, which contains a poetic fire, worthy of the author whom he praises.

Pindarum quifquis ftudet æmulari Cæratis ope Dadaliâ nititur pennis, Vitreo daturus nomina ponto.、 Alexander had fo great a veneration for this excellent poet, that

when he facked Thebes, he gave particular directions to spare the houfe which had been formerly occupied by Pindar. As Pindar excelled in the fublime, Sappho excelled in the fofter part of lyric poetry; and Horace has exactly copied the manner of both, tho' he could never fully attain to the excellence of either.

Anacreon's easy manner is inimitable; and tho' he may not, perhaps, have been as much admired as any of the above-mentioned authors, his odes have been found as generally pleafing by all readers of taste. Amongst the moderns, Petrarch deferves the preference to all the Italian lyric poets, and Rouffeau to all thofe of France. The tenderness of the odes addreffed by the former to Laura is admirable, and justly merits that panegyrick of Monf. de Voltaire, who speaking of Vauxclufe, a place in Provence, where Petrarch refided whilft he compofed them, expreffes himself as follows,

Lieux ou dans ces beaux jours,

Petrarch fufpircit fes vers et fon amour.

Rouffeau has excelled chiefly in the fublime, of which, his odes to Fortune, and to the Marquis de la Fare, are fhining inftances. Alexander's feaft entitles our countryman Dryden to a distinguished place among the greatest lyric poets; and Waller has come nearer the manner of Anacreon, than any of his numerous imitators. But no poet, antient or modern, has furpaffed Milton in this way of writing, as is evident from his L'allegro and II

penferofo,

penferofo, which contain fuch various and exquifite imagery, as would prove him to be one of the greatest poets the world ever produced, if he had not compofed his Paradise Loft. That the lyric contains more of the true spirit of poetry than any other fpecies, appears evidently from this circumstance, that no cri

tic has ever been able to lay down
rules concerning it; for tho' tafte
and judgment may be directed, true
poetic fire comes from heaven, and
is to be found only in thofe few

Quos æquus amavit
Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad æthera
VIRGIL.

virtus.

The Weakness of Human Reafon, a RHAPSODY.

Friend! vouchfafe to furnish me with a clue, which may guide my footsteps thro' this labyrinth; you who walk in the paths of Horace, without ever turning afide; who, by the aid of Ariftippus's leffons, have foftened the roughness of Chryfippus's wifdom, and have shewn us virtue accompanied with all the attractions of pleasure, fuch as the formerly appeared in the happy days when Aftrea refided upon earth. Reafon, that facred fire which the daring Prometheus ftole from heaven, might render mortal man almoft equal to the gods; whence comes it then, my friend, that fo noble and excellent a gift should be productive of evil to the human fpecies? How can a light derived from heaven, be to us the fource of a deplorable blindness? When Minerva granted her affiftance to the fage Ulyffes, the Cyclops, and the Leftrigons vainly attempted to deftroy him aided by her counfels, he triumphed over Neptune, who was ir ritared against him; by her means he escaped the alluring Syrens, and the cup of Circe. This is a fymbolical emblem of the prudence which preferves us. Every mortal has his Minerva, which should ferve to en

:

lighten him in all his undertakings; but that propitious deity conftantly walked before Ulyffes, and ferved to guide and fupport him; whereas man is now become her conductor, the follows after him, and they both fall together. Reafon is fo far from inftructing us and directing our actions, that we have contrived to make her plead the cause of our paffions. Reafon is become a fophifter which impofes upon us, a base flatterer, willing to be hired to all the fools in the world; who affuming the mask of wisdom, endeavour to authorize their abfurd conduct by fo facred a name. 'Tis this overweening reafon that perfuades us that all things muft yield to our power, that puffs us up with vainglory upon account of imaginary knowledge, that by a thousand stratagems contrives to hide us from ourselves, and lulls us to fleep amidst our vices, makes the desperate man look upon himself as an Achilles, the artful knave as a man of true prudence, and the atheist as an unbiaffed philofopher. O miftaken mortals! who think you hold the first place amongst mankind, and pity the profound ignorance in which fo many nations are immersed; who think the wild Indian upon a

level with the brute, because he lives in a hut and poffeffes faculties little fuperior to inftinct: lay afide your prejudices, and tell us which is truly in a state of barbarifim; he who is guided by instinct, or he who is led aftray by reafon? Allbounteous Nature, careful to preferve the favage, furnishes him with all things neceffary for his fubfiftance. Satisfied with the favours beftowed upon him by heaven, he leads a life free from care and trouble; and if his climate denies him fome enjoyments which are abufed by the inhabitants of Europe, they are no enjoyments to him. Stretched at ease in his ruftic cavern, he braves the rigour of the North, and his strength was never enervated by the luxury which prevails amongft us. He regrets not the want of those arts which men have discovered with fo much toil and labour, and which being now become neceffary to us, have only encreafed our mifery by multiplying our wants. He defpifes the vain ftudy of a poring philofopher, who whilft he labours under doubt and uncertainty, boasts of his extraordinary knowledge; he afks no fcience, but that which the Almighty has thought proper to endow him with, and knows that heaven created men to avail themselves of its works, and not to pry into them. He never

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imbibes the poifon of a dangerous error, and his reafon was never depraved by our falfe philofophy: he never voluntarily blinds his eyes, by a fyftem calculated to conceal the truth. Guilt appears to him in its true colours, and nothing criminal can impofe upon him under the mask of equity. Now fertile countries, fage mortals, happy people, lament the darkness and ignorance, which thefe Hyperborean nations are immersed in; you who think all happiness centered in luxury, vain diftinctions, and all the pride of life; you whofe infamous avarice is never to be fatisfied by accumulated treasure. O avarice! detefted monster, inexorable tyrant of mankind, by thee we are prevented from ever attaining true happiness. Let a man's acquifitions be ever fo great, he is lefs rich by what he poffeffes, than poor by the confideration of what ftill remains to be acquired. Avarice is not more deftructive of human happinefs than our vain curiofity, the fource of all our follies, the mother of our vanity. We wander in thick darknefs, where oft á glimmering light ferved only to dazzle us; let us endeavour to be what the Author of Nature intended us for, and not lofe in vain attempts to acquire knowledge that time which was deftined for enjoyment.

A CONSOLATORY ADDRESS, to a Friend lying under the Pref Jures of MISFORTUNES.

Friefid! who wert born to fet a great example to thofe, whose hearts are fired with the love of true virtue; wherefore do you May, 1761.

yield yourself a prey to an habitual grief, why do you become your own tormentor, and contribute to encrease your own misfortunes?

Hh

Chace

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