fore as foon as poffible quit this island, before this Sampson of a minifter in blindness, and mere brutal strength, pulls down the pillars of the constitution, and buries himself and his fellow-fubjects beneath its ruins.

WHEN this calamity has happen'd, will there then remain the founds of dulcet har mony, to foothe their diftrefs; the charms of painting and fculpture to fafcinate the mind, and withhold it from reflecting on its loft condition, as in the city where I drew my firft breath?

THE poor, and rich if any remain, will they then have that enthusiasm which warms the heart of penury in acts of devotion, that spreads itself tho' all Italy, will their distress awake their vows to heaven, and their fufferings recall the banish'd comfort of religion?

I FEAR, alas! it will not be prudent to remain here; let me retire like the ftork, to other realms, before the everlafting winter of this land arrives.. Expect me in Italy, and receive me as

Your most devoted and bumble servant.

LET.

LETTER XLVII.

To the Reverend Father DOMINICO MANZONI, at Rome.

I

Dear Sir,

MAKE no doubt of your having read the fiécle de Lovis quatorze, written by Monfr. de Voltaire; and being pleafed with his manner of recounting all that is neceffary in a reign to be known by men of true understanding, and just taste,

AMONGST other things, I could not avoid obferving two which relate to England; one of which does this nation much honor, and the other is by no means true,

THE firft is, what he fays relating to Henrietta, fifter of Charles the fecond; whom, after having given her the defcription and praise fhe merited, he affigns as the perfon who introduced rafte and politenefs amongst the women of Paris; beings who at that time, according to the picture which he has given of them, at the coming of the queen

I

1

queen of Sweden to that city, were very different from what they are at this hour.

THIS acknowledgment in favour of Engli ladies, is without doubt, an honor to the fex in England; and if the fame care had been continued in their education, and manner of living together, the British dames would to this hour have furpaffed the French, as much as they did in that time; they want nothing but that culture, and their manners.

THE other remark is certainly not true, where he fays, that fcience and literature past from Italy thro' France into England; if it began first in Florence, it certainly leaped from thence into this kingdom; the very best English writers have lived before the revival of letters in France.

SIR Thomas More, Shakespeare, Ben Johnfon, Beaumont and Fletcher, these four in the dramatic way, are yet much efteemed; the first of them the greatest genius which any nation has produced, and the prefent fupport of the theatre.

SPENCER

SPENCER in another kind of poetry, excellent and immortal; Lord Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh, and many others, who are to this day the honor and efteem of England, and Eng lifhmen.dk

WHAT truth then can there be in what Monfieur Voltaire fays, in refpect of the English having derived fcience from the reign of Lewis the fourteenth, when these writers were dead before he was born, and the English stage at the perfection it is at prefent?

THIS then, muft have rifen from defign or malice, neither of which can have any effect on thofe who read him, and know the hiftory of this kingdom; he muft certainly be better acquainted with what relates to literature in England, than he appears to be in this account.

METHINKS it is impoffible in thinking of of this man, to avoid reflecting how intimately the greatest meanness may be allied, in the human composition, with the most exalted talents,

and

and a bad heart deftroy the powers of an able

understanding.

THIS very man is a moft convincing in

ftance of this truth; with powers of intellect which might gain an afcendant over all understandings; with an aptitude and facility of expreffing his fentiments, not to be found but in few; concife and clear without defcending into frivolous littleneffes in remarks; precife in his obfervations, leaving enough to chance and the courfe of things, and yet, affigning fufficiently to the intervention and defign of man, for the honor of human nature.

1

WHAT a mortifying thing it is to fay, after all this, that a littleness of foul, mixt with this understanding, has debased this man to the commiffion of the meanest actions.

His bafe jealoufy of Maupertuis, has loft him his reputation, and his trifling with the king of Pruffia the Friendship of that monarch; fallen from a fituation to be envied by every man, who would chufe to pass his life in that delicious manner, which can only be en

joyed