We have our heroes of this kind; who, as Panurge fays in Rabelais, fear nothing but danger.

It is in the moral, just as it is in the natural world: Great bodies draw the fmaller after them. Example, custom, fashion, rule us.

They who ferve Chrift and the world, are like borderers; fcarcely knowing in whofe kingdom, or under whofe jurifdiction they are.

The church ought to be very cautious and fparing in appointing ftated fafts and thanksgivings: Elfe her children will be refractory; and, like thofe children in the market-places, mentioned in the Gofpel, She may pipe to them, and they will not dance; and mourn to them, and they will not lament.

They who fin and confefs alternately, use re- · pentance as a fort of fashionable phyfick, to be taken at set times-at spring and fall.

Auguftin fays, Melius eft ut nos reprehendant grammatici, quam ut non intelligant populi. It is not a bad leffon for preachers: But here is another, and a better, from Quinctilian: Qui ftultis videri eruditi volunt, fulti eruditis videntur..

There was at Ephefus a man of extraordinary abilities, called Hermodorus, whofe fuperior merit

fo offended his fellow-citizens, that they banished him, and on that occafion made the following decree: Let no perfon amongst us excel the reft: If fuch an one be found, let him depart, and divell elfewhere. The philofopher Heraclitus faid, that all the Ephefians, who were of age, deferved to be hanged, for affenting to fuch a law, Hermodorus, thus caft out, went to Italy, and took refuge at Rome; where the Barbarians (for fo the Greeks in those days accounted all, except themfelves,) received him with courtesy and refpect; defired his affiftance in forming their body of laws, contained in the twelve tables; and rewarded him with a statue erected in the Forum. See Cicero, Tufc. Difp. V, 36. and Pliny, Vol. I. p. 643.

We have had fome powerful Druids, and High Priefs, who would have liked a decree of the Ephefian kind concerning the clergy: If any Ecclefiaftic amongst us furpass others in learning and abilities, let him by all means be depressed and never permitted to rife above the ftation of a Curate.

Juftin Martyr fays to the Jews, "God promifed that you should be as the fand on the feafhore; and fo you are indeed, in more fenfes than one. You are as numerous, and you are as barren, and incapable of producing any thing good." Edit. Thirlby, P. 394. This is ingenious; and if all the allegorical interpretations of

the

the old fathers were like it, we should at least be agreeably entertained.

I have examined "The State of the Dead, as defcribed by Homer and Virgil ;" and upon that Differtation* I am willing to ftake all the little credit that I have as critic and philologer.

I have there observed, that Homer was not the Inventor of the fabulous hiftories of the gods. He had those stories, and alfo the doctrine of a future ftate, from old traditions. Many notions of the Pagans, which came from tradition, are confi.dered by Barrow, Serm. VIII. Vol. II. in which fermon the existence of God is proved from univerfal confent. See alfo Bibl. Chois. I. 356. and Bibl. Univ. IV. 433.

But this is maintaining the Doctrine of Traditions, which is a Popish doctrine." Thus faid a fuperficial prater against that differtation. So a

Proteftant, it seems, must not scratch his ears, nor pare his nails, because the Papifts do the fame! The truth is, that if any remarks be juft, they tend to establish the great antiquity of the doctrine of a future ftate ;-and there the fhoe pinches fome people. Let them go barefoot then, with their heels as unfurnished as their head.

*See Jortin's "Six Differtations upon different subjects." Differt. VI. p. 205.

ANECDOTES.

ANECDOTES.

INTRODUCTION.*

FROM the complexion of those anecdotes which a man collects from others, or which he forms by his own pen, may without much difficulty be con. jectured, what manner of man he was.

The human being is mightily given to affimilation; and from the ftories which any one relates with fpirit; from the general tenour of his conversation, and from the books, or the affo-1 ciates, to which he most addicts his attention ; the inference cannot be very far diftant, as to the texture of his mind, the vein of his wit, or, may: we not add-the ruling paffion of his heart.

Is it not Sydney,-or the Spectator,-who fays,

that from the national fongs in vogue, a ftranger muft judge of the temper of the people?"

66

Some fuch might be the apology, if any is needed, for inferting the little pieces fubjoined; which are,' undoubtedly, at the best, no more than the earthen feet of Daniel's coloffal statue.

* Communicated to the Editor by a Friend.

CARDINAL

CARDINAL RETZ, as I remember, fays, that going once with the Pope to view a very fine ftatue, his Holiness fixed his attention entirely upon the fringe at the bottom of the robe: From this the Cardinal concluded, that the Pope was a poor The remark was fhrewd. When you fee an ecclefiaftic in an high ftation, very zealous, and very troublesome about trifles, expect from him nothing great, and nothing good.

creature.

Vaillant, the father, took a voyage in queft of medals. He was in a veffel of Leghorn, which was attacked and taken by a corfair of Algiers. The French being then at peace with the Algerines, flattered themselves that they fhould be fet down at the first landing place. But the corfair excused himfelf, faying, that he must make the beft of his way home, being fhort of provifions. They fhipped the French, as well as the other paffengers, with the compliment of bona pace Francefi. Being carried to Algiers, they were detained as flaves. In vain the conful reclaimed them. The Dey kept them by way of reprifals, on account of eight Algerines, who, as he faid, were in the King's galleys. After a captivity of four months and a half, Vaillant obtained leave to depart, and they returned to him twenty gold medals, which had been taken from him. He went on board a veffel bound to Marseilles; and

on