this INSTITUTION? Having produced fuch scholars as Milton, Leland, Camden, the good and venerable Bithop Cumberland, Charles Earl of Orrery, a diftinguished wit and fcholar in a family of wits and fcholars, the pious and learned Nelfon, with Halley and Cotes, inferion only to the immortal Newton, whofe acknowledged co-adjutors they were: how truly interefting muft that hiftory be which would record the lives and celebrate the praifes of this conftellation of great men! What a field for criticifm, philofophy, and eloquence! But above all, what a noble incitement to future generations of PAULINES! among whom it would undoubtedly tend to keep alive that bright and vigorous flame of EMULATION which the prefent learned and truly indefatigable High-Mafter has fo meritoriously, and with a zeal fo admi-. rable, excited among his PUPILS: of which the late delivery of fpeeches, (no less correct than animated,) gave moft convincing teftimony.

I affure myself, that by this fuggeftion fome well qualified perfon, who owes his education to St. Paul's fchool, will be induced to undertake this pious office.

Much will depend upon the work's falling into proper hands; in that cafe encouragement and contributions would flow in from every quarter. Towards the fplendor and dignity of the work, much might be expected from the characteristic liberality of the Mercers' Company, patrons and vifi. tors of the school, under whofe faithful guardianship it has flourished for

near three centuries.

PAULINUS.

REMARKS on the TITLE of ESQUIRE. Suppofed to be written by Dr.GOLDSMITH. NOTWITHSTANDING many very rich farmers in Kent are called Yeo

Dr. Roberts, now thirty-five years High-Matter, and hitherto favoured with no church-preferment, having been overlooked, perhaps, amidit the croud of thofe learned and induttrious clergymen, whofe merits are more confpicuous. Yet I cannot help thinking it would be very honourable to those who hold the churchpatronage in their hands, if the DAILY labour of thirty-five years in a PUBLIC SCHOOL fhould at laft attract fome benevolent regard!

men, this addition is almost totally difufed every where, as being too low for the meanett of his Majesty's fubjects. Every man or woman, whatever be their condition in life, is Mr. or Mrs., as every parent is a Papa or Mamma. And we are not now furprised, when paffing by an alehouse, to hear one tell his neighbour, with a jug, Sir, the Gentleman in the woollen cap, or leather apron, drinks to you; but strange as it may appear, I am inclined to think, that in a few years we fhall not have a Gentleman in the

kingdom, as every perfon, of whatever fortune or ftation, is laying in his claim to the addition of Efquire, even though he has not a better title to it than the Jack Ketch of the years 1745 and 1746.

If we confult the Herald's Office, we fhall find very few that have a right to be of this order; but fince this Office, like the Convocation, is of lefs authority than it used to be, we fee any man fets up for an Esquire, as any man is a preacher that pleafes. In the country, he that hunts with the neighbouring hounds, gets very drunk at the Quarter Seffions, and has acres enough of his own to qualify him to be one of the Quorum, if he could obtain his Majetty's dedimus, is undoubtedly an Enquire; but we find drinking and hunting, without the acres, is fufficient to conftitute a country 'Squire, as long as he has no visible way of getting his own livelihood. Nay, his title does not forfake him, even in durance vile, but ticks as clofe to the unfortunate 'Squire, as Knighthood did of old to the vanquifhed Knight, whether confined in . cattle or dungeon. But fhould our Efquire have fuch a hatred for a gaol, as to get his bicad by the fweat of his brow, he would ink into his original ignobility; or, at the moit, into a vulgar Gentleman.

In this metropolis, every Grocer that now fells fugar by the lump, who very lately retailed it out by the quartern, and has turned his fingle horse chaife into a chariot and pair, is called "our 'Squire" by all his fervants; and even the Parfon of Clapham or HampRead, when afked at one o'clock on a Sunday, where he is going, will anfwer, to dine at 'Squi e Plumb's the grocer, or 'Squire Remnant's the filk mercer. And, as a proof how fond a new Efquire is of his title, I was told

the

nary fuccefs. Of his numerous works (for Fabricius has enumerated many,) only two have reached us; his Theriaca and his Alexipharmaca. These are valuable remains. Thefe are fpecimens, that deferved to be rescued from the ravages of time. They are. fingly fufficient to perpetuate their author's fame, and fix him in the foremoft rank of didactic poets. In thefe poems entertainment is blended with inftruction. The didactic parts. are relieved and enlivened by the defcriptive. What the different kinds of ferpents are, their venom, and the effects of that venom on different parts of the human frame; by what antidotes the poifon of ferpents may be repelled, and how medicinal herbs may be prepared and applied; thefe are difquifitions, to which Nicander was led by his profeffional employ ments; and which he was anxious to communicate for his own and the public benefit through the pleafing vehicle of verfe.

Our poet is refpectfully mentioned by Diofcorides; who held him in deferved eftimation for his medical talents, καλῶς ὁ Νίκανδρος πεφώνησε -napúrov & rep duraι drip. Ther. de Afp. c. 17. That Virgil was an imitator of Nicander is no new difcovery. Quintilian has told us thus much long ago. Virgil's and Nicander's ferpents are compared to gether by Urfinus, in his book on imitations. Hieyne, in his learned and elaborate edition of Virgil, has pointed out feveral paffages in Nican der, which the Roman poet was not reluctant to imitate. But the critique on Nicander, given by Scaliger in his Poetics, deferves to be inferted. It is a well drawn sketch; that delineates cur poet's character with impartiality and precision. "Nicander verbis atque numeris accuratus. Vix invenias apud Græcos poetam politiorem, Magna ei cura, ne quid ineptum, aut ineptè dicat. Itaque nitidiflimè fuos defcribit ferp-ates; quo nitore, atque elegantia tantum acquifivit gloriæ in Georgicis Maro."

R.

LINCOLN's INN HALL AND

CHAPEL.

[WITH A VIEW.]

AMONG the many advantages which,

in a very eminent degree, diftinguifh this kingdom, and form a part of that folid and rational fyftem of refinement which is indigenous to it, is that UNIVERSITY for the ftudy of our laws, that has, for ages, been erected in the metropolis.

Viewing the whole of this fplendid national establishment as operating upon its pervading influence through every one general principle, and extending vein and artery of fociety, we can little wonder, confidering that as in its foundations are combined reafon, truth, and nature; fo in its fuperftructures, the common and ftatute laws, every individual fhould find equal protection, or be liable to equal punishment.

Without attempting, at prefent, more minutely to difcufs this fubject, we fhall only obferve, that as we have ftated the existence of a legal univer fity, it will be neceffary to direct the reader's attention to the annexed view, which is an accurate reprefentation of

fome parts of the buildings of one of its Colleges, for fo our Inns of Court may with propriety be termed.

It appears from the ancient writers upon the fubject, that before the Norman Conqueft all our lawyers were clergymen, and perhaps all our clergy lawyers.

The first notice that we have of the

Students of the Law being fettled in certain Hotells, or Inns, which were thenceforth called INNS OF COURT, is about the time of King Edward the Ift, who, in the twentieth year

in the time of William the Conqueror, *As a later inftance, it appears, that Algeric, Bishop of Chichefter, was em ployed as a lawyer in the cafe of the controverfy betwixt Lanfrank, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Odo, Earl of KentUt legum terræ fapientiffimus qui ex præcepto regis, advectus fuit in una quadriga, ad ipfas antiquas legum

confuetudines difcutiendas et edocendas -Ex textu Roff-Altwin, Rector of

Sutton, and Sacolus and Godwin, Monks of Abingdon, are ipecially noted at this period for their legal knowledge, though it is not ftated that they rode in their chariots. of