NOTE 12. Page 59.

So numerous were the deities of Egypt, that, according to an ancient proverb, it was in that country less difficult to find a god than a man.

NOTE 13. Page 60.

Hieroglyphics.

NOTE 14. Page 60.

The catacombs, in which the bodies of the earliest generations yet remain without corruption, by virtue of the gums that embalmed them.

NOTE 15. Page 60.

'The Persians,' says Herodotus, reject the use of temples, altars, and statues. The tops of the highest mountains are the places chosen for sacrifices. i 131. The elements, and more particularly fire, were the objects of their religious reverence.

NOTE 16. Page 60.

In imitation of some wonderful lines in the sixth book of the Æneid.

NOTE 17. Page 60.

See Tacitus, 1. xiv. c. 59.

NOTE 18. Page 61.

This remarkable event happened at the siege and sack of Jerusalem, in the last year of the eleventh century, when the triumphant croises, after every enemy was subdued and slaughtered, immediately turned themselves, with sentiments of humiliation and contrition, towards the holy sepulchre. They threw aside their arms, still streaming with blood; they advanced with reclined bodies, and naked feet and head, to that sacred monument: they sung anthems to their Saviour, who had purchased their salvation by his death and agony: and their devotion, enlivened by the presence of the place where he had suffered, so overcame their fury, that they dissolved in tears, and bore the appearance of every soft and tender sentiment.

HUME i. 221.

AN

EPISTLE TO A FRIEND.

Villula

et pauper agelle,

Me tibi, et hos una mecum, quos semper amari,
Commendo.

EVERY reader turns with pleasure to those passages of Horace, Pope, aud Boileau, which describe how they lived, and where they dwelt; and which, being interspersed among their satirical writings, derive a secret and irresistible grace from the contrast, and are admirable examples of what in painting is termed repose.

We have admittance to Horace at all hours. We enjoy the company and conversation at his table; and his suppers, like Plato's, non solum in præsentia, sed etiam postero die jucundæ sunt.' But, when we look round as we sit there, we find ourselves in a Sabine farm, and not in a Roman villa. His windows have every charm of prospect; but his furniture might have descended from Cincinnatus; and gems, and pictures, and old marbles, are mentioned by him more than once with a seeming indifference.

His English imitator thought and felt, perhaps, more correctly on the subject; and embellished his garden and grotto with great industry and success. But to these alone he solicits our notice.

On the ornaments of his house he is silent; and appears to have reserved all the minuter touches of his pencil for the library, the chapel, and the banqueting room of Timon. 'Le savoir de notre siecle,' says Rousseau,' tend beaucoup plus a detruire qu' a edifier. On censure d'un ton de maitre; pour proposer, il en faut prendre un autre.'

It is the design of this epistle, to illustrate the virtue of true taste, and to show how little she requires to secure, not only the comforts, but even the elegancies of life. True taste is an excellent economist. She confines her choice to few objects, and delights in producing great effects by small means; while false taste is for ever sighing after the new and the rare; and reminds us, in her works, of the scholar of Apelles, who not being able to paint his Helen beautiful, determined to make her fine.