the civil wars. He augmented the fmall vicarages, whofe great tithes were appropriated to his fee; and, by adding to the falaries of the rectors, made their livings more comfortable, and fufficient to fupport themselves and families, which they could not do before (happy would it be, if the Jevenues of the clergy were established in a more equal manner, and that the unneceffary wealth of fome of them was taken off, and appropriated to the real wants of others!) Many other charities the archbishop performed, during the short time he was poffeffed of his new dignity, and many more he would doubtlefs have done, had he enjoyed it longer. But being broken with age and infirmities, and especially with the most racking torture of the ftone, he died June 4th, 1663, aged 81, and was buried the 9th of the fame month, in St. John's College chappel, Oxford, by the fide of his friend archbishop Laud. He bequeathed feven thoufand pounds to that college, which were afterwards laid out in the purchase of three hundred and fifty pounds per annum. He left alfo one hundred pounds to the poor of St. Giles's parish, in Oxford, the like to four other parishes; and fums for the repair of St. Paul's and Canterbury cathe drals, and other charitable uses; in all, to the amount of near five thousand pounds. In perfon he was comely, in difpofition active and lively, of great parts and temper, full of ingenuity and meekness, not apt to give offence to any, and willing to do good to all: of great moderation, fincerity, and integrity; infomuch, that he was the delight of his time, and extorted a reverence and respect from those very perfons who had destroyed and ruined his order. He was entirely void of ambition, or a defire of power: all his preferments were in a manner forced upon him. It was with the greatest reluctance he accepted of the treasurer's staff, well forefeeing the envy and malice it would occafion to him. He befides pleaded his own inabilities, but yielded at last to the importunities of Laud. He refigned it with the greatest gladness, as he had always difliked it; though no man, as has been be'fore remarked, ever difcharged that office with more honour, and to the fatisfaction of all men. He published but a very few things. In a word, he was a man of primitive fanctity, wifdom, piety, learning, patience, charity, and all apoftolical vir tues. SELECT THOUGHTS on various Subjects, from BUTLER. T HE more we examine the works of Butler, the greater caufe fhall we have to admire the depth of his genius, and general knowledge of mankind; and may take it for granted, that had he met with proper encouragement, he would have distinguished himself in almost every kind of writing. These reflections will occur to every one, on reading almost any of Butler's works, and particularly his thoughts on various fubjects, confifting of fhort fentences unconnected with each other, and flung together without order or method. In thefe he difcovers fuch a profoundness of thought, foundBefs of understanding, and folidity of reflection, as plainly prove his abilities to have been fufficiently great, for writing on many other fubjects than thofe he has obliged the world with, and with equal fuccefs. Several of thefe reflections more particularly relate to the times in which Bute er wrote; but the greater part are gene ral, and applicable to any. The reader will not be displeased with the following: "The Chriftian religion in the primitive time, was bred up under the greateft tyranny in the world, and was propagated by being opprest and profecuted; but in after-times, when it was delivered from that flavery, it declined to be tyrannical itself for when the popes had reduced their cruellest enemies, the Roman emperors, they affumed a greater and more extravagant power, than the others ever pretended to; as if religion having served out an apprenticeship to tyranny, as foon as it was out of its time had fet up for itfelf. 1 "All the bufinefs of the world is but diversion, and all the happire's in it, that mankind is capable of, any thing that will keep it from reflecting upon the mifery, vanity, and nonfenfe of it; and whoever can by any trick keep himself from · thinking mean. "Princes that have the command of other men have less freedom themselves than the meaneft of their subjects, and are tied to greater refervations and forbearances than the rest of mankind': for juft fo much respect as they fhew to the public opinion of the world, will the world have of them, and no more. "The preferment of fools and undeferving perfons is not fo much an honour to them, as infamy and dishonour to those that raise them; for when a prince confers honour on thofe that do not deferve it, he throws it away out of his own stock, and leaves himself so much the lefs, as he parts with to those that want merit to pretend to it; and by that ill husbandry, in time, leaves himself none at all to pay to thofe to whom it is due. That which the wife man prayed for of God, in Ecclefiaftes. . . . To give him neither riches nor poverty,.... is as much to be defired in converfation and business; namely, to have nothing to do with men that are very rich, or very poor; for the one fort are commonly infolent and proud, and the other mean and contemptible; and those that are between both are commonly the most agreeable. "Men of the quickest apprehenfions and apteft genius to any thing they undertake, do not always prove the greateft masters in it for there is more patience and phlegm required in those that attain to any degree of perfection, than is commonly found in the temper of active and ready wits, that foon tire, and will not hold out; as the fwifteft race-horfe will not perform a long journey fo well as a fturdy dull jade. Hence it is, that Virgil, who wanted much of that natural eafinefs of wit that Ovid had, did, nevertheless, with hard labour and long study, arrive at a higher perfection, than the other with all his dexterity of wit, but lefs industry, could attain to. The fame we may obferve of Johnson and Shakespear; for he that is able to think long and judge well, will be fure to find out better things, than' another man can hit upon fuddenly, tho of more quick and ready parts; which is commonly but chance, and the other art and judgment. "A credulous perfon is like a pitcher borne by the ears, empty of itfelf, but apt to hold whatsoever is put into it. "The practice of the church of Rome, and that of the Reformation, in dealing with finners, is like that of a quack and learned phyfician in curing of claps; for as the physician will not undertake a cure, unless the patient will enter into a course, and obferve rules, which the quack will difpenfe with, and give him leave to go abroad and follow his occafions, that is, fuch as gave him the difcafe: To the reformed churches will not promife forgiveness of fins, without repentance and amendment of life; which the church of Rome freely difpenfes withal; and upon mere confeffion and penance performed, gives them pardon and freedom to do the fame things over again. "The more falfe any religion is, the more induftrious the priests of it are to keep the people from prying into the myfteries of it; and by that artifice, render them the more zealous and confident in their ignorance. "The wit of the fchoolmen, like the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharifees, confifted much in the ftraining at gnats, and swallowing of camels. For they that are curious in fubtelties, and ignorant in things of folid knowledge, are but penny wife and pound foolish." The ftrength and juftness of these fen timents cannot but strike every person. In fome future Number we may fele& more of these excellent obfervations. An ACCOUNT of the famous JAMES CREIGHTON. THAT there have appeared in the world, even in days of very great ignorance, perfon of fuch ftupendous learning and abilities, as to be accounted prodigies of men, and endued with such extraordinary natural parts, as no study or or labour could ever equal; is a truth too well known and established to be at this time doubted. Among thofe favourites of nature, or providence, that have been enriched with fuch exceeding, great, and various endowments, and contrarieties of excellence, none seems to have been more exalted above the common rate of humanity, than the man known about two enturies ago, by the appellation of the ADMIRABLE CREIGHTON, who has been often compared with the famous prince, John Francis Pico de la Mirandola, and by fome thought fuperior to him. James Creighton (or, as his name is variously fpelt, Crichton or Criton) was a native of Scotland, and studied at St. Andrew's. He was related to the royal family of Stuart; and as virtue (fays Virgil) is better accepted when it comes in a pleasing form; fo he was as remarkable for the beauty of his perfon, as for the Arength of his genius. At twenty-one, he went to Paris, and affixed on the gate of the college of Navarre, a kind of challenge to the learned of that university, to difpute with him on a certain day; offering to his opponents, whofoever they hould be, the choice of ten languages, and of all the faculties and fciences, On the day appointed three thoufand auditors affembled, when four doctors of the church and fifty mafters appeared against him. After a difputation of nine hours, he was adjudged to have gained the entire victory, was prefented by the prefident and profeffors with a diamond, and a purse of gold, and difmiffed with repeated accla mations. At Rome he made the fame challenge, and had in the prefence of the Pope and cardinals the fame fuccefs. He was introduced by Aldus Manutius to the learned of Venice; and at Padua, engaged in another public difputation, beginning his performance with an extemporal poem, in praife of the city and affembly then prefent, and concluded with an oration equally unpremeditated, in praise of ignorance. He afterwards published another challenge, declaring himfelf ready to detect the errors of Aristotle, and all his commentators, either in the common forms of logic, or in any which his antagonists should propofe, of a hundred different kinds of verfe. He engaged the admirasion of the most learned doctors, as well in private companies as by his public difputations. Yet thefe acquifitions of learning, however ftupendous, he had not acquired by the omiffion of any accomplishment in which it becomes a gentleman to excel, nor at the expence of any pleafures youth is prone to indulge itself with; for he excelled in the arts of drawing and painting, and was an eminent performer both in vocal and instrumental music. He danced with uncommon gracefulness; and on the day after his difputation at Paris, exhibited his fkill in horfe manship before the court of France, where at a public match of tilting, he bore away the ring upon his launce fifteen times together. He He excelled in domestic games of lefs dignity, and spent so much time at cards, dice, and tennis, that a lampoon was fixed upon the gates of the Sorbonne, directing those who defired to fee this monster of erudition, to feek for him at the tavern. had fo vaft a memory, that he would repeat an oration of an hour, after only once hearing it, with the grea eft exactnefs; and in the recital, obferve the fame tone and gefticulation as the speaker. In an Italian comedy compofed by himself, and exhibited before the court at Mantua, he is faid himself to have perfonated fifteen different characters. His skill in arms was equal to his learning, and his courage to his skill. He vanquifhed a prize-fighter in fingle combat, who, according to the barbarous custom of that age, and not very much unlike to the as favage cuftom of duelling in this, travelled about the world as a general challenger, and had defeated the most celebrated mafters. In Mantua he had killed three that appeared against him. He fell in this engagement with Creighton, who, as he had entered upon it through the indignation he felt at his adverfary's fanguinary fuccefs, divided the prize of fifteen hundred piftoles, which had been staked againft him, among the widows whofe husbands had been killed. It was not only in the fciences of philo. fophy, theology, mathematics, music, and the Belles Lettres, or in the arts of riding, dancing, and fencing, and every branch of intellectual knowledge, that the admirable Creighton was the object of the world's admiration. His manners and his virtues were alike amiable. Not only brave to a.degree 3 a degree of heroifm, he was modest in his deportment, affable in his carriage, and liberal above his circumftances. At the request of the duke of Mantua, he became tutor to his fon Vincentio di Gonzaga, a prince of loofe manners, turbulent difpofition, and deftitute of honour, courage, and humanity. Enraged at the fuperior accomplishments of his tutor, the perfidious prince, during the carnival, went forth masked at night, with feveral affaffins, and attacked him in the street when he was playing on the guittarre. Creighton thus affaulted, drew his fword, and defended himself fo gallantly, that he put them all to flight, except the prince, and him he foon difarmed. Having no other way to fave his life, he pulled off his mafque, and discovered himself to be his pupil. Struck with the deepest astonishment, Creighton fell on his knees, and begged pardon of Vincentio, at the fame time prefenting him his fword, who, like an ungrateful villain, and perfidious infernal monster, plunged it in the heart of the never-enough to be lamented, and un happy Creighton. Thus, by an almost unparalleled act of treachery, was the world deprived of its greatest ornament, who fell, the univeral lamentation of all degrees of men, in the twenty-fecond year of his age. The court of Mantua teftified their efteem by a public mourning; and every palace in Italy was adorned with his picture, reprefenting him mounted on an horfe, with a launce in one hand, and a book in the other. A Many fables may perhaps have been related of fo extraordinary a perfon, but the above particulars are felected from writers of inconteftible authority. hundred years paffed, without food or fleep, one of his antagonists has confeffed, would not have been fufficient for the attainment of his learning; which was the immediate gift of God, who according to his own wife Providence, it may not be prefumption in us to suppose, fometimes makes ufe of particular perfons, to display his own wonders on those creatures he himself hath created. NATURAL HISTORY of the OSTRICH. THE oftrich is perhaps the largest and strongest bird in nature. It is chiefly found in the dry barren deserts of Arabia and Africa, but efpecially in the empires of Abiffinia, Monomotapa, Morocco, and Biledulgerid. Its neck and head are remarkable, being shaped almost like a camel's, which creature the oftrich also seems to imitate in its manner of walking. Its head rifes to the height of a man on horfeback, and fometimes higher. Its legs and thighs are like thofe of a heron, allowance being made for the different proportion; and each foot has three claws armed with horn, to facilitate its march. Her eggs are faid to be as big as the head of a young child, and to be finely veined like marble, which she hides inconfiderately in the fand, and leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the fun, and by the next female which chances to light upon them. Thus, we read in the inimitable book of Job, chap. xxxix. "The oftrich leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the duft, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild July, 1761. beaft may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is vain without fear, becaufe God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted unto her understanding ;" that is, as Dr. Derham explains it, he hath denied her that wisdom, that natural instinct to provide for, and nurfe up her young, that most other creatures are endowed with. It is not very strange (continues he) that no other incubation than the fun fhould produce their young, as it is fufficiently hot in thofe countries for that purpofe; but it is very odd and wonderful, that any one fpecies fhould vary from all the reft of the tribe. The fingular care of the Creator, in this cafe is very remarkable, in fupplying fome other way the want of care and affection in the parent animal; fo that the young fhould, notwithstanding, be bred up in large and barren deferts, the most unlikely and improper places (in all human opi nion) to afford fuftenance to young help!cfs creatures; but the fittest therefore to give demonftrations of the wifdem, care, and efpecial efpecial Providence of the infinite Creator and Converfator of the world. It has been, however, obferved by fome moderns, and particularly Mr. Vanfteb, that the reason why the oftrich does not hatch her eggs, proceeds from a natural fenfibility in her, that her bulk and weight would not fail breaking them, if he were to lie upon them. He likewife fays, both male and female have been feen to ftand by and watch them by turns, hatching them as it were with their eyes; though, fhould either man or beast drive them off to any distance, they would not be able to find the nest again; and that this in all probability gave birth to the foundation of their forgetfulness and cruelty. This is not without its objections, but, however it be, it is allowed that the oftrich is as little careful of her young as any creature; and the Arabs and Africans fometimes meet with whole nefts of these eggs undisturbed; and often with a few of the young ones, about the fize of a pullet, half starved, straggling and moaning about like diftreffed orphans in fearch of their mother, though they most times pick up fufficient fuftenance, barely to fupport them till they are bigger, and can better provide for themfelves, Providence fupplying the place of a mother. This want of affection is mentioned alfo by the prophet Jeremiah. "The daughter of my people is cruel, like the oftriches in the wildernefs. Lament. iv. and 3. verfe." Every neft confifts of a great number of eggs, from 20 to 50, the first of which the depotits in the centre, and the rest as conveniently round it as poffible. Who in the cruel oftrich has fubdu'd Without an owner, on the fandy ground'; She fcorns the rider, and purfuing steed. This is not the only reproach that may be due to the oftrich: the is alfo inconfi. derate and foolish in her private capacity particularly in the choice of her food, which is frequently detrimental, and fometimes highly pernicious; swallowing every thing indifcriminately, with the greatest greedinefs, whether pieces of rags, leather, wood, ftone, lead, or iron. It may therefore be justly faid, "that God hath deprived her of wifdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding." But perhaps some part of thefe hard substances are devoured by the oftrich, for the fante end as other inferior birds fwallow small pebbles, and grains of fand; not for food, but to affift the attrition of it; but the great quantity of these things often found in the maw of this creature, plainly prove that this food is not devoured upon that account only, as a very little would be fufficient; but that the folly and greediness of the oftrich are the occafion of it, and caufe her to fwallow every thing that comes in her way. Befides, there is no neceffity for supposing fuch very hard kind of food necessary for the above purpose. Some of their eggs are made into drinking-cups, and other table and houshold ornaments; and if we may believe Pierius, fome make them into caps, which they think no fmall ornaments to the head. Thofe that are laid by the old ones are commonly the largeft, and the others are fo in proportion: they are all good to eat, and even those which are broken in the laying, a common cafe, prove a nourishment to the young ones, who greedily feed on the multitude of worms and other infects, which are either bred in, or croud into them. Whatever danger the oftrich may be ́exposed to whilft in the thell, Providence hath given it strength and speed fufficient to avoid it as foon as they are out of it. They foon begin to rove about for food, and with fuch fwiftnefs as not easily to be 'caught; and when full grown, can outrun the fleetest horfes. We are told by Xenophon, that Cyrus having met with a large drove of them near the Euphrates, fent fome of the best horfes he had in his army after them, without being able to catch a fingle one. Some add, that when clofely purfued, they will, in their flight, take up flones, and throw them backwards with their feet, with extraordinary force and agility. Their wings, tho' very short in proportion to the reft of their bodies, are of great ufe to them in running. They are |