giving up his right of dominion over it. In a courfe of ages, as population increased, he began to find it in his way. In one part, it occupied grounds fit for his plough; in another, for the pafturage of his domeftic cattle; and in fome parts it afforded fhelter for his enemies. He foon fhewed the beasts, they were only tenants at will. He began amain to lay about him with his axe. The foreft groaned; and receded from its ancient bounds. It is amazing what ravages he made in his original habitation, through every quarter of the globe. The fable was realized; man begged of the foreft a handle to his hatchet, and when he had obtained the boon, he used it in felling the whole.. Britain, like other countries, abounded once in wood. When Caflibalan, Caractacus, and Boadicia, defended their country's rights, the country itself was a fortrefs. An extensive plain was then as uncommon as a foreft is now. Fitz-Stephen, a monk of Canterbury, in the time of Henry II. tells us, that a large foreft lay round London, "in which were "woody groves, in the covers where"of lurked bucks and does, wild boars, "and bulls." To fhelter beafts of the latter kind we know a forest must be of fome magnificence. Thefe woods, contiguous even to the capital, continued clofe and thick many ages afterwards. Even fo late as Henry VII's time we are informed by Polidore Virgil, that, "Tertia propemodum Anglic pars pecori, aut cervis, damis, "capreolis (nam et ii quoque in ea par"to funt, quæ ad feptentrionern eft) cu-"niculifee nutsiendis relicta eft inculta;' "quippe patim funt ejufmodi ferarum vivaria, feu roboraria, quæ lig.is ro"boreis funt claufa: unde multa vengë "tio, qua fe nobiles `cum primis exera " cent." In this paffage the foreft feems to be distinguished from the park, which latter was fenced in thofe days with oak pales, as it is now. As Britain became more cultivated, its woods of courfe receded. They gave way, as in other places, to the plough, to pafturage, to fhip-building, to architecture, and all other objects of human induitry, in which timber is the principal material; obtaining for that reafon, among the Romans, the pointed appellation of materies. Letter from Dr Johnfon to Mr James Elphiafton, on the death of his Mother. lent mother, and I hope you will not think me incapable of partaking of your grief. I have a mother, now eighty-two years of age, whom there fore I must foon lofe, unless it pleafe God, that the rather fhould mourn for me. I read the letters, in which you relate your mother's death to Mrs Strachan; and I think I do mself honour, when I tell you that I read them with tears. But tears are neither to me nor to you of any farther ufe, When oace the tribute of na ture has been paid. The bufinefs of life fummons us away from ufelefs thofe virtues, of which we are lamenting our deprivation. The great benefit which one friend can confer upon another, is to guard, and incite, and elevate his virtues. This your mother will fill perform, if you diligently preferve the memory of her life, and of her death: a life, fo far as I can learn, useful and wife, and innocent; and a death refigned, peaceful and holy. I cannot forbear to mention that nei. ther reafon nor revelation denies you to hope, that you may encreafe her happiness by obeying her precepts; prefence. If you write down minute and that she may, in her prefent ftate, look with pleasure upon every act of virtue, to which her inftructions or example have contributed. Whether this be more than a pleasing dream, or a ju opinion of feparate fpirits, is indeed of no great importance to us, when we confider ourselves as acting under the eye of God. Yet furely there is fomething pleafing in the belief, that our feparation from those whom we love, is merely corporeal; and it may be a great incitement to virtuous friendship, if it can be made probable, that a union, which has received the divine approbation, fhall continue to eternity. ly what you can remember of her from your earlieft years, you will read it with great pleafure, and receive from it many hints of foothing recollection, when time fhall remove her yet farther from you, and your grief thall be matured to veneration. To this, however painful for the prefent, I cannot but advise you, as to a fource of comfort and fatisfaction in the time to come: for all comfort, and all fatisfaction, is fincerely withed you by, Dear Sir, moft obedient and most humble fervant SAM. JOHNSON. There is one expedient, by which you may in fome degree continue her Sept. 25; 1750. Extract of a Letter from Lord Bolingbroke to Monf. Pouily de Champeaux, with a Commentary, and Remarks. ENFIN, mon cher Pouilly, dans "as Montaigne would perhaps choofis cette foule d'hommes que j'ai pu connoitre, et dont j'ai cherché à etudier l'efprit et le caractere, je n'en ai vu que TROIS qui m'aient paru dignes qu'on leur confiát le foin de gouverner des nations. Notre amitié eft trop etroite, elle eft, ainfi que le diroit Montaigne, trop libre et trop franche dans fes allures, pour que je m'enveloppe avec vous de cette faufle modeftie, dont il faut quelquefois fe faire un bouclier contre l'envie. Je vous dirai donc hardiment que ces trois hommes font Vous, Moi, et POPE. " to exprefs himself, too frank and free "in its paces for me to need, with you, the wrapping myfelf up in that falfe modefty, of which there is fometimes a neceflity for making a fhield against envy. I fhall then "tell you boldly, that these three men "are You, MYSELF, and POPE." To begin here with Bolingbroke; it is, with truth, nothing but just to add to what has been elfe where faid of him, that, in this opinion of himfelf, he flands no exception to the generality of mankind, ever practically ftrangers to the divinely moral ins junction of SELF KNOWLEDGE. It is not that he is reprehenfible here for that franknefs of fpirit with which, believing himfelf fully qualified for the arduous talk of government, he confidentially to his fiend afferts that claim, in difdain of the grimace of mock modelly, than which fheer impudence itfulf is a thousand times lefs loathfome oathfome. But the point here is, that he was miltaken in the man; in himself, Bolingbroke was only political in his understanding, but not at al fo in his character. With a ftrength of head capable of the highest reafon, he was conftitutionally reduced below even the common ftandard of mankind by fome of its loweft paffions. While an aftonishing comprehenfivenefs of mind enabled him to embrace, in fpeculation, a whole univerfe, the egotifm of his character contracted that immenfe sphere to a point, to an atom, to himfelf. Thence it was that he was ever capitally deficient in that indifpenfable qualification for Government, especially in this country, the facial cement: a vanity extremely worthy of Luch great talents, with which it is, generally speaking, justly enough held incompatible, fue as it eternally is to defeat their effect; his vanity, I fay, loft him the support of others, who, with lefs pretenfions to merit, were equally, though therefore the lefs fhamefully, vain. Thefe could not forgive him that fuperiority of his, of which his impolitic difplay offended their felf-love too much to let them do juftice to his merit, whenever his intereft or his ambition came in competition with theirs. Then it was that they took their advantage of all his faults against all his merits, which many, however, when there was nothing to be loft by confefling an admiration of them, would not fcruple to admire, for the fake of the air or of the fathion of admiring them. The truth then was, that the excellence of his head was ever detrimental to himself,, for his no having in his heart any thing of that indifpenf able focial virtue, a due deference and respect for the judgment of others. This was totally excluded by the paramount opicion he had of his own fufficiency, which gave him an impatience of contradiction that made him the Tarquin of fociety. The cakne's then of fuch vanity alone O VOL. XIV. No. 82. was abundantly unfavourable to his pretenfions to govern a nation; but the greater weakness yet of letting it be felt, much augmented the difqualification. There was more yet against him. His egotifm taiated his politics, and, even in them, mechanically fubordinated to perfonality his better knowledge and understanding. Knowing perfectly the French Government, he cordially defpifed its defpotism, and its mode of adminiftration; and yet the circumflance of his refidence in France had fo Frenchified his politics, that, probably without himself being fenfible of the warp, it had given him a fort of predilection for the Court of Verfailles, which made him fee the faults to us of Auftria in too alienating a light. But had his place of refuge been in Vienna in lieu of Paris, and he had married a German lady, inftead of a French one, there is all the reafon to think that, from mer egotifm, his local and perfonal idea of politics would have taken the Antigallican impreffion as ftrongly, and with infinitely more good policy, than they did the Anti-Auftrian. Ic was this political herefy that, at least, appears to have been caught from him by one of his pupils, the penfioned orator, who, without knowledge or examination, fervilely took that doctrine upon truft from him, and, with infinitely inferior talents and abilities, aped him in his prefumption of fuperiority enough govern nations ;" his fuccefs in which molt impudent claim would have been a fine joke to Bolingbroke, if he had lived to fee it. 16 to It has been elsewhere noted, how he came to be introduced to the late Prince of Wales, from whom he received great favours, which he repaid, ́ by apparently infecting his Court with a partiality for France, which, it is much to be feared, is at this moment operating, and than which there can hardly be conceived a weakaefs more pregnant with danger and detriment. to few, he was ftill a God, compared to fuch idiots as we have fince feen in place, favour, and power. As to Mr Pope, the attribution to him of political talents, either in actuality or poffibility, is entirely in Bolingbroke's character, of which Self was conftantly, even to a degree of blinducfs, the centre. It was literally himself that he was extolling in that great poet, who, in politics and philofophy looked up to him as to his to our national fyftem. Both Great Britain and Hanover have already had abundantly reafon to execrate the facrifice of the Houfe of Auftria, and its confequent alienation from their common intereft in a ftedfaft oppofition to the Houfe of Bourbon, who have been wife enough to avail themfelves of that egregious folly; a folly of which there is great reafon to conjecure that Britain and Hanover have not yet done with feeling the pernicious confequences. Unhappily this Matter and Guide." Upon those is one of thofe ufefal truths which, two objects, in matter of opinion, for their being fo, are but the more Pope, in verfe, was the duplicate of likely to be caft away on the invete- Bolingbroke in profe. Dazzled by the racy of an carly prejudice, or the falfe brilliancy of his parts, and captivated honour of oblinacy in error, and on by bis admiration of them, Pope fathe want of vigour of mind to expel crificed to him any fenfe he might a poifon it has once received.-Mean- have of his own, with fuch unrefervwhile, is there not fome reason to fufed fubmiffior, as to tame even the pcct that an undue complaifance to the French Court muft have been at the bottom of that fcandalous Quebec Act? The fuffering fuch a religion in the British dominions, on the principles of justice and humanity, might be very right, efpecially as bare fufferance implies reprobation; but furely for a British Parliament to ENACT the Support of it was going rather too far. To tolerate is only a connivance, but to eftablish is an approbation. 66 There is not, however, here meant a minute difcuffion of all the reafons which grew out of facts, for not acceding to Bolingbroke's opinion of his own capacity, in a political light, for governing Nations." That would carry me too far. Lord Chesterfield, who admired him, could not, on obferving the great disparity between his understanding and chaaler, help crying out pathetically, "Ah! la pauvre Humanité!" "alas! for poor humankind!" (an exclamation, the juftice of which, by the way, was not a little exemplified in Chesterfield himself.). Yet, not to be unjutt, let Bolingbroke have, at leaft, the benefit of contraft. With all his faults, which were neither little por natural ferocity of Bolingbroke's genius; infomuch that, with a heart to tally incapable of friendship, he gave. himself the air of it with a man weak enough to be fo thoroughly fubdued by him. Then it was, that finding him, on politics and government, the faithful echo of his own fentiments, he vended him to Champeaux as a po litician, on much the fame principle of vanity that he had palmed upon himfelf and others a filly mistress of his for a quit, in confequence of the knack fhe had got of repeating, like a parrot, fome excellent things he had heard him fay, and which he chofe to forget he had faid. No fooner however was Pope in his grave, than the very man who had confidered him as equal to the "Gavernment. of Nations," picked a quarrel with his me mory, and treated him as little less than a felon for a tranfaction in which malice itself could impute to Pope no guilt but that of an excefs of admiraation for a very trivial common-place production of Bolingbroke's, and which, though even fubmitted to his correction, would fcarce have done.. honour to a young collegiate. Thrice happy Bard! Happy in bav ing ing, by a predemife to Bolingbroke, poffible not to defpife; faved him from elcaped the pain it must have given the horror of feeing the triumphs of him to difcover the perfidy and inhu- impolture, whether in the fuccefs of manity of a man whom, he had fo Mock-Patricts, or of FALSE FRIENDS!. much admired, efteemed, and con- falfities thefe of incomparably the fidered as his friend!Happy, in wort confequences, fince whole nanot living to fee the fad accomplish- tions are affected by them. A play ment of his own prediction of a ge- on words may be only a fin against neral Dunciad to a public that appear wit; but the fporting of fentiments is ed to him even then at its laft yawns; treafon to mankind. as he could even then, in the manifeftly growing and perfectly natural union between fordid avarice and rank ftupidity, eafily forefee that depravity of tafte fo likely to replunge the land into thofe depths of barbarism and darknefs, but of which it had emerged through the immortal geniufes of a Shakespeare, Milton, and other luminaries of other times than thefe; times in which true wit, fublime nature, feem to be leaving the field to that eternal refule of tatte, frigid conceits, ftrained allufions, childish gingles of founds, and even to puns, that loweft of all, the vile attempts of dulluefs at wit and humour. -Once more Happy Bard! in this, that friendly death faved him from the vexatio and ignominy of a fubjection to a fcarce interrupted feries of fuch men in power as it was hardly Here I ought not to conclude withont fome elucidation of the character. of Monf Pouilly de Champeaux, the third Member of Lord Boingbroke's imperial triumvirate. But as that difcution would come more authentically from his countrymen who beft knew him, I fhall but just mention that he was a writer much eftcemed for the elegance and fpirit of humanity that breathe throughout his literary productions; the generally moft eftecmed of which is his Theory of Agrecable Senfations. As to his political powers, I cannot fay I ever heard of their being fo celebrated as to authorife this more than compliment to him on Lord Bolingbroke's part. This then I am forced to leave under the uncertainty to which my not knowing more of him naturally copdemns me. Addrefs to the People of England, by the Diffenters in the Wet Riding of Yorkshire. property of our brethren in that part of the kingdom by a deluded popul.ce the civil Judge has already decided in the regular exercife of his office; and we fincerely compaflienate the unhappy wretches, who, as a falutary example to others, have been fentenced to expiate their crimes with their lives. But we deem it ftill neceffary, on our part, to obviate the invidious mifieprefentations of our principles and conduct which have produced this fanatical fpirit, and which appear to us |