a medal yet in existence,* what credit shall we give to his account of circumstances which he could only know by conjecture? Some of the champions in this cause have, displayed great abilities, and great charity; and nobody, I imagine, could be more surprised by the result of their enquiries, than the unhappy subject of them.

Could she from cold oblivion peep,
And see her modern portrait shine,
So pure, so holy, so divine,

Round which ev'n wits and scholars weep;
The nymph, who on the mountain's steep
Once more adorn'd poor Darnley's brow f
Would rouse her from her tedious sleep,
With many a hymn, and many a vow;
And drawing from her bosom deep

Those tales 'bout which historians vary,
Beg, while her humble sinews bow,

Protection from the new St. Mary.

See the profile of Queen Mary, in that work, where the features are very different from the pinched cheeks and turned up nose of the celebrated medal, from which it is said to be taken. It is a curious fact, that the portrait alluded to, is copied from a profile of Julia Gonzaga.

A tradition, from which a hill, in the neighbourhood of Linlithgow, takes the denomination of Cocu le Roy.

By the uncertainty of historical truth, and by the appearance of success, which in certain periods, attends the worst men, and the most wicked designs, some have been induced to prefer romantic to real history, as the more favourable to virtue. But fiction is always more feeble than truth; for the most difficult task of imagination, is the invention of incidents; and those who wish to improve by experience, cannot be too accurate in determining the real connection of the facts, from which they are to conclude. A fable may illustrate a moral apophthegm, but can add no force to a political maxim.

Some eminent philosophers, on the contrary, attaching too much importance to mathematical demonstration, have wished to confine the knowledge of history to certain undeniable facts, and would deprive us of some of its most engaging passages, to prevent the possibility of deception. But the essence of

history, or indeed of any study, requiring much labour, is always apt to evaporate in the moment of enjoyment. It is nearly impossible to transmit the result of our own labours into the minds of others, who have not qualified themselves for their reception by the neces sary degree of previous research. Or, if they are understood, they can only furnish the reader with an author's opinions, of which he knows not the foundation, and that can never become active sources of knowledge, like those which he might obtain by his own exertions. After all, how small is the class of readers, who study history, with the expectation of acquiring virtue or experience! To those who are destitute of the habits and discipline of literature, history is little better than a splendid pantomime, where some of the spectators are delighted with the dexterity and boldness of the hero, others with the magnificence of the scenes, and the astonishing

changes of the machinery; from such an entertainment, the majority carry away, perhaps, as many moral impressions, as they would receive from the study of Thucydides or Davila,

ON THE ORIGIN

of

THE MODERN ART

of

FORTIFICATION,