With liquid fire the goblet crown'3, Some fpotlefs name their rage demands, And you, who dauntless dar'd to brave Where trees their mantling foliage fpread, There dread the fpight fwoln BELDAME's wrath, And fubtle drawing foul offence From the chafte breath of innocence, The lines immediately following, are also pleasingly pa▪ thetic. Or fhould the tender bofom yield Raife the fall'n mourner from the ground, Angels fhall hear the fuppliant's voice, And BELDAMES howl, and HEAVEN rejoyce. We could, with pleasure, give our readers farther proofs of the merit of this performance; but we will not anticipate the fatisfaction they will find in the perufal of the whole. A Parallel A Parallel; in the Manner of Plutarch: between a most celebrated Man of Florence; and One, fcarce ever heard of in England. By the reverend Mr. Spence. Printed at Strawberry-Hill; and fold for the benefit of Mr. Hill. 12mo. I s. 6d. Dodfley. T O relieve the neceffities of the induftrious poor, and refcue uncommon talents from want and obfcurity, appears to be the principal defign of this performance: a defign at once so benevolent and commendable, that, were the work itself, in no other respect, worthy of the reader's attention, we should fincerely recommend it to publick perufal and encouragement. We cannot, however, difallow the unaffuming and ingenious Mr. Spence any of that fmall fhare of literary merit, to which he may be entitled, on account of this pamphlet; whether confidered as an imitation of Plutarch, or a concife fpecimen of biographical writing in general. The objects of the parallel here drawn, are the celebrated Magliabechi of Florence, and one Robert Hill of Buckingham, a perfon, here faid to be, one scarce ever heard of in England. He has been long known, however, to many, by reputation, under the name of the famous Buckingham Taylor; and we are much mistaken, if the hiftory of this extraordinary perfon was not publifhed, together with his arguments in favour of the Trinity, about four years ago, in the magazines. At the fame time we are forry to find, that fo little notice has been fince taken of him, by any of thofe who might, without inconvenience to themselves, have reaped honour in becoming his patrons: Mr. Spence informing us, that this poor man ftill labours under the fame difficulties, which fo much retarded his literary progress, and which it is almost a miracle he had perfeverance to fur mount. Magliabechi had, in this respect, very much the advantage of Hill; for, though of parentage equally mean and low, infomuch that, without being taught to read, he was put to serve a man who fold herbs and fruit; yet, as the ftrange delight he took, in poring over all the printed papers that fell in his way, recommended him to the notice of a neighbouring bookfeller, he foon became poffeffed of the materials to gratify his defire of reading. For fuch, and fuch only, might Magliabechi's paffion for letters be properly called; fince it does not appear that he ftudied any art or fcience, or was defirous of knowledge, any farther than as it ferved to exercife his aftonishing memory. In this refpect, if his own countrymen are to be credited, 218 SPENCE's Parallel; in the Manner of Plutarch., credited *, he was indeed a prodigy; having read almost all the books to be met with in his time; and retaining alfo not only the meaning of them, but exactly the manner in which it was difpofed; the words in which every remarkable sentiment had been expreffed, and not feldom the very page in which they were inferted. It was his great eminence this way, that got him diftinguished as member of the Arcadi †; and induced Cofimo the third, grand duke of Tuscany, to make him his librarian. In this poft Magliabechi enjoyed a state of ease and affluence; and, having alfo the keeping of the libraries of the cardinals Leopoldo and Francisca Maria, indulged his favourite paffion in an intense, and almost perpetual, application to books. As to Mr. Hill, he had, it feems, been at fchool in his youth, for about two months; and could read and write when put apprentice to his father-in-law, a poor taylor in Buckingham. Here he got, by accident, fome few Latin books in his poffeffion; and was never eafy till he had made himself matter of that language. In the fame manner, and with the fame affiduity, he applied himself afterwards to the Greek and Hebrew; of both which, it is faid, he is at prefent perfect master. This literary acquifition coft Mr. Hill fome years; and, as our readers will readily conceive, much labour and ftudy: he not having the advantage of any inftructor; nor, at all times, the money, or opportunity, to purchase fuch books as might affift him. From a comparifon between these two remarkable perfonages, it appears, that the knowledge of Magliabechi was by far the most Mr. Spence, juftly fuppofing the exceffive encomiums lavished on Magliabechi, by his countrymen, would be suspected of partiality, frives to acquit them of any intent to deceive, by attributing their excefs in this point, to the idiom of the Italian tongue. We prefume, however, another reafon might be given. Magliabechi was, perhaps, the only inftance of great erudition, in men of his education, known to the Florentines, which made them fo profound in their admiration of him, and so extravagant in his praife. Such examples are not fo fcarce in this age and country; nor is it ftrange that Mr. Hill is not elleemed that phænomenon, which he might have been thought at Florence, a century ago. We ourselves know more than one Jedediah Buxton, whofe amazing powers of retention feem to exceed any thing we ever heard of befide. Nay, we could name cobler phyfiologists and weaver mathematicians, whofe learning and capacities would do honour even to regular-bred profeffors in the fciences. A literary fociety established toward the end of the last century at Rome. A full account of this fociety may be feen in the 19th volume of our Review, p. 249. ex extenfive; and indeed it is no wonder it fhould. Yet, had not that great obftacle to ftudy, res angufta domi, prevented the progrefs of Mr. Hill, there is good reafon to think he would have gone very furprifing lengths; and that he might, perhaps, on the whole, have better deserved the character of a man of learning than Magliabechi: for, after all, it feems that the latter could not talk on any subject as other learned men do; but that it was commonly faid of him, he was a learned man among the bookfellers, and a bookfeller among the learned.' On the whole, a much nearer parallel (would it as well have answered the purpose) might have been drawn between this taylor of Buckingham, and another perfon formerly of the fame occupation at Norwich. This was Mr. Henry Wild, who being afterwards fent, by Dean Prideaux, to Oxford, taught the oriental languages in that univerfity, and was well known there, about the year 1720, under the appellation of the Arabian Taylor. There is a ftriking fimilitude in the characters of these two perfons; and we with Mr. Hill may refemble his predeceffor ftill more, in meeting with as beneficent a patron, as Mr. Wild found in that eminent encourager of learning and learned men, the late Dr. Mead. A Scrutiny; or the Criticks criticifed, &c. &c. By the Editor of the Epiftles to Lorenzo. 8vo. 1s. Wilcox. W E have here a fpirited remonftrance, in behalf of a work, entitled Epistles philofophical and moral *; the Editor of which thinks the author t of that performance very unfairly dealt with, and his defign and arguments injuriously mifrepresented, by certain critical animadverfions, which have appeared fince its publication. Our readers will remember that, in our account of the Epiftles, we concluded the fyftem contained in that work, to be, on the whole, by no means derogatory from religion and virtue; yet we gave our opinion of the writer's having, perhaps unwarily, approach'd too near the borders of infidelity. The criticks, how See the firft article of our Review for January laft. + We should imagine, by the equal dexterity with which they feem to treat metaphyfical fubjects, that the author and editor unite in one and the fame perfon. This, however, we do not affert, finding fuch effectual care is taken to conceal the name, or names, of both. ever, ever, who are here complained of, have, it seems, gone farther; and have not fcrupled to represent the faid work as (in our author's words) a daring and infolent attempt on the tranquility both of church and state. A mifreprefentation,' fays he, on which, who is there that hath either religion or honefty, and does not feel his indignation rise against both the work and the author? Ought not a publication of fo dangerous a nature (if such it be) to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, instead of being recommended as a work of genius, and the author complimented as a master of diction and imagery? And yet, on the other hand, if it be not fo, and the accufations brought against the work and author, be proved falfe and groundless, what fhall we fay bad enough of thofe Critics, whose temerarious pens have thus dared illiberally to brand a man of genius with the most odious of characters ?' To difprove thefe accufations, therefore, is the bufinefs of the pamphlet before us; of which, as it differs from the usual literary fquabbles between Authors, and contains fome notable ftrictures on the most important points of religion and morals, we fhall felect a fhort extract or two, without taking upon us to decide, how far the Writer has shewn himself an able advocate in the cause he has efpoufed, or fucceeded in placing the arguments of the work in question, on the fide of Chriftianity. It is infinuated, among other extraordinary dogmata, in the Epiftles, that the pains and pleafures of human life, being relative and dependent on each other, are perfectly equal. What is here advanced, in juftification cf this notion, is plaufible and curious. It is yet, after all, admitted, that it may be a point not clearly determinable. But, fays this Writer, we cannot help remarking, that in judging of our pains and pleafures, we place the mean, or neutral point by far too much on one fide. We are not apt to place the fimple enjoyment of health, and the bare neceffaries of life, to the account of pleafures; though certainly in this cafe there is a pleafure in the bare conscioufness of our own existence, at least of our existence as rational creatures, that we very ungratefully neglect in loading the fcale of mifery with our complaints. Imaginary wants and diftreffes, indeed, all are ready to give up as compenfated; but how do we differ in our notion of what is imaginary? the wants of others are frequently imaginary; but unhappily, or rather ridiculously, our own are always real. Poverty and fickness are the two great evils which men are apt to think cannot, in this life, be compenfated. Poverty may, per haps, be too gently paraphrafed by calling it the want of riches: it may, indeed, be aggravated to the want of a competence, or the want of immediate neceffaries. And yet, it is certain, a bare competence to one man may be riches to a fecond; while the want of |