Philip, and the following admirable defcription of the perfec hiftorian.

;

• Nor moderation's dupe, nor faction's brave,
Nor guilt's apologift, nor flattery's flave:
Wife, but not cunning; temperate, not cold
Servant of truth, and in that service bold;
Free from all biafs, save that just controul
By which mild Nature fways the manly foul,
And Reafon's philanthropic fpirit draws
To Virtue's intereft, and Freedom's cause ;
Those great ennoblers of the human name,
Pure fprings of power, of happinefs, and fame!
To teach their influence, and fpread their fway,
The juft hiftorian winds his toilfome way:
From filent darkness, creeping o'er the earth,
Redeems the finking trace of useful worth ;
In Vice's bofom marks the latent thorn,
And brands that public peft with public fcorn.
A lively teacher in a moral school!
In that great office fteady, clear, and cool!
Pleas'd to promote the welfare of mankind,
And by informing meliorate the mind!
Such the bright task committed to his care!
Boundless its ufe; but its completion rare.'

Mr. Gibbon's irreligious fpirit is touched by our author with fo much delicacy, that we cannot with-hold from our readers the following fhort quotation :

Think not my verfe means blindly to engage

In rash defence of thy profaner page!
Tho' keen her fpirit, her attachment fond,
Base service cannot fuit with friendship's bond;
Too firm from duty's facred path to turn,
She breathes an honeft figh of deep concern,
And pities genius, when his wild career
Gives faith a wound, or innocence a fear.
Humility herself, divinely mild,

Sublime Religion's meek and modeft child,
Like the dumb fon of Cræfus, in the ftrife,
Where force affail'd his father's facred life,
Breaks filence, and, with filial duty warm,

Bids thee revere her parent's hallow'd form!'

The idea of Humility, the daughter of Religion, pleading for her parent, is finely conceived, and truly poetical.

Though the laft Epiftle, as we before hinted, might, on a careful revifal by our author, be made much more complete, and the fubject-matter of it be arranged in a better manner, this poem is, upon the whole, one of the beft that has been published for fome time paft. The notes fubjoined are too long, and many of them unneceffary.

A Difcourfe

A Difcourfe delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Ely, o May 9th and 10th, 1780. By Richard Watfon, D.D. F.R.S. 4to. 6d. Rivington.

IN

IN this difcourfe the learned author proposes a plan for the encouragement of Oriental literature, and represents the advantages which we may probaby derive from the translation of eaftern manufcripts, and a more intimate acquaintance with Arabic, Perfic, and Chinese authors.

• We yet know nothing, or next to nothing, of the treasures of eastern learning; but, from what we do know, there is no reason why we should be deterred from endeavouring to know more. Proverbs and poems have their graces and their ufes but from eastern learning we derive more fubstantial benefits, than what can be expected from fuch compofitions. We owe algebra intirely to the Indians or Arabians: chymistry, medicine, natural history, geography, and many of the most abftract fciences are indebted to the Arabians, if not for their birth, at least for their fupport and protection, when they were abandoned by all the ftates of Europe. It is faid, that the Arabians tranflated into their own language the most celebrated works of all other nations. If this be a fact, and the learned admit it as fuch, have we not great reason to believe, that many monuments of Roman, Grecian, Egyptian, and Chaldean litera ture, may be preserved in the Arabic translations, though the originals are irrecoverably loft? No language, not even the Grecian, after the conquefts of Alexander, had ever so extenfive a fpread as the Arabic after the victories of Mahomet.'

note.

The celebrated Dr. Hyde, in his Oratio de Linguæ Arabicæ Antiquitate, informs us, that an ambafiador from the emperor of Morocco affured him, that in his country they had one library, containing 100,000 volumes in the Arabic language; another, containing 200,000; and a great number of inferior If this be true, it is impoffible to fay, what extraordinary productions may be hoarded up in these repofitories. Leo Africanus, in his defcription of Africa, takes no notice. of these great libraries. But then it must be remembered, that Leo wrote about the year 1526, a hundred and fifty years before the time of the ambaffador who gave Dr. Hyde this account; and these libraries may have been collected fince that time. We are, however, inclined to fufpect, that his excellency has exceeded the truth on this occafion.

Be this as it may, our learned author thinks, that the tranf lation of the Oriental manufcripts, which we already poffefs, is a work worthy of the attention of all the universities in Europe, For, fays he, • We

We have hundreds of volumes in our English libraries; France, Holland, Italy have many; and the library of the Efcurial alone, if we may judge from the catalogues which have been lately publifhed, would amply reward all our pains. Men fkilled in thefe languages fhould be invited from every quarter, formed into a kind of society, and employed for life, under the direction of proper perfons, in the drudgery of tranflation. Nothing, worth notice in this way, can be expected from the detached labours of a few profeffors of Hebrew or Arabic; men of liberal education cannot readily be brought to undertake fuch a task, and if they could, the matter may be effected at a much eafier expence by the labours of inferior perfons. What would be an adequate reward for three or four needy Turks or Perfians, would not be a proper ftipend for one man of letters, who should be obliged annually to produce the fruits of his unremitted diligence. But without entering into the particular manner of accomplishing this defign, I cannot help being of opinion, that an inftitution established at Cambridge, for the exprefs purpose of tranflating and publishing Oriental manufcripts, would redound to the credit of the university; and tend to put the learned world in poffeffion of a very valuable part of literature, of which at prefent we have but a very imperfect knowledge. There is no reason to be alarmed at the difficulty of this undertaking, when we confider, what the great industry of Dr. Kennicot has effected in collating the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament; for if the ability of one man can do fo much, what might not be expected from the joint abilities of a fociety of men united into a body, for the accomplishing of one fingle object?

But an establishment at home, for the purpose of tranflating fuch Oriental manuscripts as are already to be met with in Europe, is but a part of the plan; men fhould be sent abroad into Perfia, India, China, into every country of the globe where there are manufcripts of any antiquity, in order to collect them; for it is a mortifying reflection, that we know very little of the history of the human race; especially when there is a probability, that we might know more. The mouldering hand of time has, indeed, defaced fome of the most precious monuments of antiquity; and those few which might have escaped the natural viciffitudes of human things, have been utterly deftroyed by the defolation of unnatural war. The peftilent ambition of a few bad men, has left us in a state of irremediable ignorance, I fear, concerning the mutual dependencies of different nations, the primeval population of the globe, and the intellectual improvement of the human race. Yet, much remains to be done. Europe is but lately emerged from a long barbarifm; and there may be countries in Alia, which have never experienced any interruption in the progrefs of arts, or the cultivation of learning,

He

He adds, We have good reafon to believe, that could the ancient hiftories of Indoftan, Thibet, Siam, and China, be obtained, they would be well worthy of our attention. For if a fkill in manufactures be a fign of civilization, we know from various authorities, that the Indians and Chinese were as much fu perior to the most ancient nations of the Western world, in the arts of dying, japanning, weaving of filk and linen, and other trades, as they are at prefent to us. "And if we may be allowed to draw any conclufions from the immenfe buildings now exifting, and from the little of the infcriptions which can be interpreted on feveral of the choultries and pagodas, I think it may fafely be pronounced, that no part of the world has more marks of antiquity for arts, fciences, and civilization, than the Peninfula of India, from the Ganges to Cape Comorin."

This learned writer then proceeds to fhew, that a translation of Oriental manufcripts may tend to remove many of the difficulties which have been conceived against the authority of Mofes, from the fuppofed high antiquity of the Eastern hiftories, and their filence concerning a deluge.

Learned men (Grotius, Bryant, Catcott, &c.) have evidently proved, that a tradition concerning a deluge has prevailed in almost every part of the globe, except India and China. Now, fays our author, may not this be a reafon for us to hesitate a little, till we know more of those countries, before we positively affirm that they have no fuch tradition, especially when there is a diverfity of teftimony upon the subject ?

If, continues he, we should be able to find in the hiftories of the eastern nations, as certain traditions concerning a deluge, and as certain proofs of the invalidity of their pretenfions to any great antiquity, as are confeffedly to be met with in every other quarter of the globe, should we not have great reafon to acquiefce in the account given by Mofes of the deluge, and the fubfequent fpreading of the defcendants of Noah over all the earth, notwithstanding the difficulties which may attend our endeavours to explain the manner in which the deluge was effected? But befides the univerfality of the tradition concern. ing a deluge, which a more minute acquaintance with the general history of mankind would probably establish, other proofs, he thinks, of a common origin might be expected from the inquiry; fuch as thofe which may be derived from a fimilarity of cuftoms, which are very general, and yet too fingular in their nature to have fprung from any common neceffity of mankind.

The olive branch, he obferves, was a fignal of peace, not only amongst Greeks and Romans, but likewife among the Alpine nations, who met Hannibal in his paffage; among the

Americans,

Americans, who addreffed Columbus; amongst other barbarians mentioned by Dampier; and among the inhabitants of the Southern Inles discovered by our late navigators. He mentions the general prevalence of human facrifices, of serpentworship, cuttings in the flesh at funerals, founding of trumpets, during eclipfes, &c. and particularly takes notice of a striking fimilarity in the customs of the Egyptians and Peruvians. Compare Witfii Ægyptiaca with the History of Peru by Garcilaffo de la Vega.

As to the means of accomplishing the fcheme here propofed, they might, he says, be pointed out with great facility.

A fmall fociety of proper perfons, part of whom should be employed at home in tranflating, and the other part in travelling to collect materials, would complete the business in half a century. The public expence attending the maintenance of fuch a fociety, would be but as a drop in the ocean, compared with what is annually expended for lefs beneficial purposes. Without increafing the public burdens, by recurring to parlia mentary liberality, we need have no fear of obtaining from royal munificence, or private benefaction, fuch aids as, when added to other refources which the univerfity of Cambridge has a prospect of speedily poffeffing, would be fufficient for the purpose."

This is a noble and extenfive fcheme, and well worth purfuing; but experience only can determine what advantages may be derived from it. The Arabic language is one of the chief fources of Oriental learning. But when we confider the fpecimens which Erpenius, Gelius, Pococke, and others, have given us of the Arabic writers, the hiftories of Elmacinus, Abulpharagius, and Eutychius, the geographical works of Abulpheda and Gabriel Sionita, and the various productions of Averroes and Avicenna, we fhall not be very fanguine in our expectations from that quarter.

Abcdario Mufico. 800. 1s. 6.

Bladon *.

IT T has with great truth been faid, that praifing all, is praising none;' it is the fame with general abuse, which lofes its force when indifcriminately beftowed. The concealed author of this virulent pamphlet, has, indeed, tried to praise one or two of the musicians in his alphabet, but in fo aukward and

By an article in one of the newspapers, it was attempted to make the public believe that this libel against the offspring of Apollo was the production of a certain baronet at Bath, as remarkable for his good-nature and hofpitality, as this petulant author is for bitterness, and a nauseous want of Chriftian charity.

VOL. L. July, 1780.

C

reluctant