Again: "There are some, it seems, of our

good Brethren, the French Protestants, lately come among us, who are mightily taken with this Primitive way. They have set a-foot the Spirit of Martyrdom to a wonder in their own Country; and they long to be trying it here, if we will give 'em leave, and afford 'em the Occasion: that is to say, if we will only do 'em the favour to hang or imprison 'em; if we will only be so obliging as to break their Bones for 'em, after their Countryfashion blow up their Zeal, and stir a-fresh the Coals of Persecution." d°. Sect. III.

The Dedication to sir Robert Walpole, then earl of Orford, prefixed by Bolingbroke to his Remarks on the History of England, has been cited by some persons as the model of the style of the

celebrated Junius.

"It is not my design," says he, "to tread the beaten track, and compare you either to FABIUS or CICERO. To insinuate you ever had a type or parallel, is to injure you. No, you are yourself; an original; a nonsuch; nor it is likely posterity should ever produce such another. It is enough for me to give you your own; I aspire to no more; and that I dare not attempt but by figure only."

Though I professedly spread the canvas for your portrait, I could not help edging in a slight sketch of my own. I shall not, however, forget that your lordship is to be the principal figure, nor

that I ought to be content with an obscure corner in the piece; like your equerry, holding your stirrup, or presenting that head-piece which none but you would presume to put on; or rather as your 'squire, assisting to disarm you; or helping you out of your saddle, &c."

"Whether you are to be cut or drop from the tree, I am afraid to pronounce."

"A tremendous prophecy, my lord, and what you can never be out of the reach of, till you are in your grave."

"The old jingle of honores mutant mores you have the glory, my lord, to be an illustrious exception to."

"It is notorious you have now as much to bestow as I expected then."

The conclusion of the following sentence will show that an expression, which has by many been mistaken for a grace of modern rhetoric, can exhibit a title more venerable than they imagined.

"On the stage, indeed, when a master-poet exerts his power over the passions, his victim at the end of the fourth act is frequently made to sing a requiem to his cares and sorrows, as if for ever done away."

These are by no means all the flowers of a similar kind, that might be gathered, out of a Dedication of ten thinly printed pages.

SECT. V.

AGE OF GEORGE THE SECOND.

We come now to the last period of our investigation; the age of king George the second.

We may select as specimens of this period, Middleton, Sherlock, Fielding and Smollet.

No production of that age has been more extolled as a model of fine writing, than Middleton's Life of Cicero. History had been written among us, before that book made its appearance; but this is the first work in our language that is written in what Englishmen have since been accustomed to regard as the historical style. Middleton is the precursor of the Humes, the Robertsons, and the Gibbons.

But, though this work is to be esteemed upon the whole an able, excellent and elegant production, it is not without considerable defects. Middleton is an eloquent writer, but his verbosity is glaring, and his construction perplexing and tedious. His phraseology is often pedantic, and often unnecessarily loaded with particles. Precision of speech, that conveys its meaning in the most direct and unincumbered manner, is no part of his praise. The vigour of his genius seems to pant and labour under the burthen of his language.

The following passages may serve to illustrate his character.

Speaking of the period, in which it was customary for the young men of Rome to assume the manly gown, the author proceeds: "They were introduced at the same time into the Forum or the great square of the City, where the Assemblies of the people were held, and the Magistrates used to harangue to them from the Rostra, and where all the public pleadings and judicial proceedings were usually transacted: this therefore was the grand School of business and eloquence; the scene, on which all the affairs of the Empire were determined, and where the foundation of their hopes and fortunes were to be laid: so that they were introduced into it with much solemnity, attended by all the friends and dependents of the family, and after divine rites performed in the Capitol, were committed to the special protection of some eminent Senator, distinguished for his eloquence or knowledge of the laws, to be instructed by his advice in the management of civil affairs, and to form themselves by his example for useful members and Magistrates of the Republic." Sect. I.

After enumerating the studies of Cicero, Dr. Middleton concludes: All which accomplishments were but ministerial and subservient to that, on which his hopes and ambition were singly placed, the reputation of an Orator." do.

"This practice [the vote, ut viderent consules, ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat], tho' in use

from the earliest times, had always been complained of by the Tribuns, as an infringement of the constitution, by giving to the Senate an arbitrary power over the lives of Citizens, which could not legally be taken away without a hearing and judgment of the whole people. But the chief grudge to it was, from its being a perpetual check to the designs of the ambitious and popular, who aspired to any power not allowed by the laws: it was not difficult for them to delude the multitude; but the Senate was not so easily managed, who by that single vote of committing the Republic to the Consuls, could frustrate at once all the effects of their popularity, when carried to a point which was dangerous to the State: for since by virtue of it, the Tribuns themselves, whose persons were held sacred might be taken off without sentence or trial, when engaged in any traiterous practices, all attempts of that kind must necessarily be hazardous and desperate." Sect. III.

The following is a part of our author's character of Sylla.

"His family was noble and Patrician, which yet, through the indolency of his Ancestors, had made no figure in the Republic for many generations, and was almost sunk into obscurity, till he produced it again into light, by aspiring to the honors of the State. He was a lover and patron of polite letters, having been carefully instituted him-.