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good-natured, and affable to her equals, and humble, submissive, and obliging to her superiors: as no height of prosperity makes her forgetful of adversity, so no storms of adverse fortune are ever able to disturb the calm within her breast, or deprive her of that hope, in which true courage will always support those who possess it.

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True courage, rightly understood, and properly cultivated, will inspire the fair sex with the noblest sentiments of honour and generosity it will elevate their minds above those mean and paltry methods, which too many of them put in practice, to captivate the hearts of the giddy and unthinking: it will raise in them a noble and emulative zeal for literary studies, which will rescue them from the odium that is too frequently, and too justly, cast on many of them, of being pretty, but silly prattling creatures: it is true courage only that can raise in them such sentiments as shall preserve them the esteem and affection of all, when the bloom of youth shall be lost in the evening of life; when the lilly and roses shall fade on their cheeks, and the beautiful form of their persons must be no longer admired.

I shall conclude, Sir, this imperfect essay, with the translation of an anecdote from an ingenious French author*, which, I believe, has not yet appeared in English; and from which I shall not presume to draw any conclusion, but leave your readers to make such reflec→ tions as may appear to them best.

Mithridates, proving unsuccessful in the war, in which he was engaged against Lucullus, had shut up two of his wives and sisters, whom he loved the most, in that part of his kingdom, which was the remotest from danger: at last, not being able to bear the apprehensions of their falling into the hands of the Romans, he sent orders to Bacchilides, an eunuch, to put them to death. The manner in which they received this order merits some reflection.

Berenice and Monimes were these unfortunate princesses: the first was of the island of Chio, and the other of Meletus, a city of Ionia, towards the borders of Cairo, on the coast of the gcan sea. Monimes was celebrated for the constant resistance which she made to all the offers of Mithridates, who was violently in love with her; and to which she never consented, till he had declared her queen, by calling her his wife, and sending her the royal diadem.—A ceremony indispensible in the marriage of kings of that part of the world. She consented even then with reluctance, and only to gratify the inclinations of her family, who were dazzled with the lustre

* Considerations sur Luculle, par l'abbe de St. Real, tom. I. p, 213, &c.

of the crown and power of Mithridates, who was at that time victorious, and loaded with glory. Monimes, abandoned herself to a perpetual melancholy, which the abject slavery in which Mithridates kept his wives, the distance she then was from Greece, where she had no hopes of returning, and, perhaps too, a secret passion, which she always disguised, rendered insurmountable.

When Bacchilides had delivered to them his fatal message, and that they were at liberty to choose what death appeared to them the most easy, Monimes tore off the royal bandage which she always wore on her head, and, fixing it round her neck, endeavoured to strangle herself; but the bandage broke, and left her in a lamentable condition." Unfortunate diadem (said she, trampling it under her feet) thou has brought on me all my misfortunes! Thou hast been witness of my slavery and misery! Why wouldest thou not at least help me in putting an end to them all;" After having shewn these marks of resentment, she snatched a dagger from the hand of Bacchilides, and sheathed it in her bosom.

Berenice took poison with admirable resolution, and obeyed, without murmuring, the frenzy of a barbarous lover.

The king's two sisters, Statira and Roxana, followed the example of Berenice. Roxana, after having a long time kept a profound silence, swallowed the poison, and died without speaking a single word. As for Statira, after having shewn her grief for the king's defeat, she highly praised his conduct, and charged Bacchilides to thank him, for thinking of her amidst the wreck of his affairs, and thereby securing her, by a timely death, from the shameful slavery of the Romans.-Sentiments (says my author) worthy of an AmazoKan heroine, and the sister of Mithridates!

I am, Sir,

Your humble servant,
PATER-FAMILIAS.

SELECT SENTENCES.

USEFUL HINT TO PARENTS." A woman much dreading her three sonnes, one to incurre the law for his busie meddling, the second likely to prove a murtherer, by his bloudie frayes; the third, by unthriftie courses, like to come to beggerie; was advised to make the first a lawer, the second a physician, the third a divine; and so the two former might continue their humours with gaine,

with authoritie; the third his with honour."-Purchas's "Microcosmus." Ann. 1619. E. A. P.

In a state of public plenty, tyrants dread the insolence of the common people; in a time of scarcity, their resentment. They see no safety for themselves, whether abroad or at home, in public or in the palace; neither can they frequent any place with confidence: all are beset with plot and treachery.

Ir is an easy task for men of inferior abilities and slender worth to shake a country from the foundation: but to place it firmly again upon its basis, is an enterprize of no common difficulty, of no instantaneous accomplishment, unless God vouchsafe his indulgent co-operation to the rulers.

THE love of life is not only powerful, but excessive in the human breast, and death, an object of the utmost horror; only, however, as there is hope of the one, and escape from the other. But when the last hour is come upon us, and that light, which will rise to us no more; when death presents himself in person, the extremity, now become certain, is no longer dreaded. Hence, criminals, before their condemnation, are agitated by strong terrors: but a profound stupefaction succeeds, with a security resulting from despair, and a voluntary haste to the place of execution, without any instigation of the executioner.

Ir is not the events of life which harass mankind, but our prejudiced opinions of those events. Thus death is not intrinsically terrible; otherwise it would have appeared terrible to Socrates; but our notions of death as a terrible event. When, therefore, we find ourselves embarrassed and perplexed, let us accuse nobody but ourselves; that is, our own absurd persuasions.

J. S.

WHO is there so dead to every social and respectable sentiment, as not to wish well, with enthusiasm, to the person who says, "I shall feel a great consolation at the conclusion of these lectures, if by a wide survey, and an exact examination of the condition and relation of human nature, I shall have confirmed but one individual in the conviction that justice is the permanent interest of all men, and of all commonwealths. To discover one new link of that eternal chain by which the author of the universe has bound together the happiness. and the duty of his creatures, and indissolubly fastened their interests to each other, would fill my heart with more pleasure than all the fame with which the most ingenious paradox ever crowned the most eloquent sophist." Q.Z.

Mh's Lectures on the Study of the Law of Nature and Nations.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE.

Qui monet quasi adjuvat.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Antiquities of the Inns of Court and Chancery, containing historical and descriptive Sketches relative to their original Foundation, Customs, Ceremonies, Buildings, Government, &c. &c. with a concise History of the English Law. By W. Herbert. 1 Vol Crown 8vo. pp. 377. 25s. 4to. 21. 2s. Vernor and Hood.

1804.

This work is presented to the public as a compendium of valua ble rather than original information. In its composition, the author honestly confesses that he has freely availed himself of what was before written on the subject, and that the greater part of his materials has been extracted from the well-known and justly-esteemed performance of Sir William Dugdale, published in folio in 1666, 1667, and 1680, under the title of "Origines Juridiciales."

"To give the substance," says he, “ of that expensive and interesting work, with the additional advantage of views of the places described, was the primary, and, in fact, the only object here aimed at. But," continues Mr. Herbert, "many alterations and improvements presented themselves in proceeding; by the adoption of which the present volume will be found to differ very materially from an abridgment."

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We perfectly agree with our author, that, valuable as Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales certainly is, it must be acknowledged to be repulsive book to, modern readers. Many of its details are dry and prolix; much matter is interwoven with the text, which being but, remotely connected with it, might have been, with more propriety, put into notes; and it abounds in redundancy of expression, a fault, imputable to the style of the age.

By taking advantage of these circumstances, what is really of im-. portance in that book is not only here preserved, but room has been afforded for a great quantity of additional information; and the whole, while it assumes a more attractive form, will be found of increased utility. Such is Mr. Herbert's hope (p. viii.) and it is a hope which his industry and knowledge have rendered firm and

sure.

Previous to the Antiquities of the Inns of Court and Chancery, we have six chapters under the following curious and interesting

D-VOL. XVIII.

'heads. Cap. I. Of the Common Law of England. Cap. 11. Of the Justice of England. Cap. 11. Of the four great Courts. Cap. IV. Of the Creation, Dress, Salaries, &c. of the Justices of the King's Courts in Westminster Hall. Cap. v. Of Trial in Cases civil and criminal, viz. by Jury, Combat, Fire and Water, Ordeal, and Wager of Law. Cap. vi. Miscellaneous. These matters, treated with all the intelligence of an antiquary, without his dry formality, occupy one hundred and sixty three pages, and we then come to what relates to the Inns of Court and Chancery.. After an excellent chapter on the Origin and Customs of the several Courts, we find the INNER TEMPLE taking the lead amongst the various Inns, and of this chapter we shall give an abridged account.

The Temple is well known to have taken its name from that gallant religious military order, the knights templars, who came into England in the reign of Stephen. Their first house was in Holborn, near the scite of the present Southampton Street, and was called the Old Temple; but in the succeeding reign they began the foundation of a nobler structure, opposite the end of Chancery Lane, then called New Street, which, to distinguish it from the former, was called the New Temple. This occupied all that space of ground from the monastery of the Carmelites or White Friars, in Fleet Street, westward to Essex House, without Temple Bar, where Essex Street now stands, and some part of that too, as appears by the first grant of it to Sir William Paget, by Henry VIII.*

The Knights Templars were originally Crusaders, who happening to be quartered in places adjacent to the Holy Temple at Jerusalem, in 1118, consecrated themselves to the service of religion by deeds of arms. At first they had no settled habitation, subsisted on alms, and had only one horse between two of them; which latter circumstance they commemorated on their seal, till at length Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, granted them a residence near his palace. And, on account of the vicinity of their original mansion to the Temple at Jerusalem, they were called Knights of the Temple.

From being humble and poor, they became insolent and wealthy, to such a degree, that, at their dissolution, they were found to be possessed of sixteen thousand manors, besides other property.

Their riches occasioned their ruin. A persecution, founded on most unjust and fictitious accusations, was formed against them in France by hilip le Eel, which example was soon followed in other countries.

In 1310, a council held at their house in London found them * Pat. 2, Ed, 6.

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