of France, that he might have been taken for a native of all or any of these countries; and this quality he applied to counterfeit all sorts of persons, wherein he succeeded wonderfully; he was moreover the best comedian and greatest droll that perhaps ever appeared; he had a genius for poetry, and had written many verses; he played upon almost all instruments, was a perfect master of music, and sung most agreeably and justly; he was of a disposition to do, as well as to know, all things; his body was perfectly well suited to his mind-he was light, nimble, dexterous, and fit for all exercises; he could ride well, and in dancing, wrestling, and leaping, he was admired; there are not any recreative games that he did not know; and he was skilled in almost all the mechanic arts. But now for the reverse of the medal: here it appeared that he was treacherous, cruel, cowardly, deceitful; a liar, a cheat, a drunkard, and a glutton; a sharper in play, immersed in every species of vice, a blasphemer, an atheist; in a word, in him might be found all the vices contrary to nature, honour, religion, and society; the truth of which he himself evinced with his latest breath, for he died in the flower of his age, in a common brothel, perfectly corrupted by his debaucheries, and expired with a glass in his hand, cursing and denying God."

It is evident from this extraordinary case, that "with the talents of an angel a man may be a fool." There is no necessary connexion between great natural abilities and religious qualifications. They may go together but they are frequently found asunder.

5. EDWARD GIBBON.

EDWARD GIBBON, the celebrated author of the history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," is well known to have been what is termed a philosopher and an infidel.

He was born in 1737. In early life he became a papist; he afterward renounced popery, and seems to have paid little attention to religion in any form; nor does it appear that he ever made it a matter of serious thought or inquiry. In his memoirs he has undesignedly presented a striking view of the cheerless nature of infidelity. "The present is a fleeting moment— the past is no more-and our prospect of futurity dark and doubtful. This day may possibly be my last, but the laws of probability-so true in general, so fallacious in particular-still allow about fifteen years. I shall soon enter into the period, which, as the most agreeable of his long life, was selected by the judgment and experience of the sage Fontenelle. His choice is approved by the eloquent historian of nature, who fixes our moral happiness to the mature season in which our passions are supposed to be calmed, our duties fulfilled, our ambition satisfied, our fame and fortune established on a solid basis. In private conversation, that great and amiable man added the weight of his own experience; and this autumnal felicity might be exemplified in the lives of Voltaire, Hume, and many other men of letters. I am far more inclined to embrace than to dispute this comfortable doctrine. I will not suppose any premature decay of mind or body; but I must reluctantly observe, that two causes, the abbreviation of time and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life."

At another time, alluding to the death of a friend whose excellencies he had mentioned, he wrote, "All this is now lost, finally, irrecoverably lost! I will agree, that the immortality of the soul is, at some times, comfortable doctrine."

a very

Having no hope for eternity, he was eager for the continuation of his present existence; he declared to a friend, about twenty-four hours previous to his departure, in a flow of self-gratulation, that he thought himself a good life for ten, twelve, or perhaps twenty years. During his short illness, he never gave the least intimation of a future state of existence. This insensibility at the hour of dissolution, is, in the language of scepticism, "dying the death of a philosopher!"

6. HOBBES.

HOBBES was a well-known infidel, a century and a half ago. When alone, he was haunted with the most tormenting reflections, and would awake in great terror, if his candle happened but to go out in the night. He could never bear any discourse of death, and seemed to cut off all thoughts of it.

Dr. Wallis relates of him, that discoursing one day with a lady in high life, Hobbes told her, "That were he the master of the world, he would give it all to live one day longer." She expressed her astonishment, that a philosopher who had such extensive knowledge, and so many friends to gratify and oblige, would not deny himself one day's gratification of life, if by that means he could bequeath to them such ample possessions. His answer was, "What shall I be the better for that, when I am dead? I say again, if I had the whole world to dispose of, I would give it to live one day." How dif ferent is the language of the real Christian!

"Having

a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better," far better than the highest enjoyments that can be attained in this world.

He lived to be upwards of ninety. His last sensible words were, when he found he could live no longer, "I shall be glad then to find a hole to creep out of the world And, notwithstanding all his high pretensions to learning and philosophy, his uneasiness constrained him to confess, when he drew near to the grave, that "he was about to take a leap in the dark.”

7. DIDEROT.

DIDEROT avowed himself an atheist, and declared that he gloried in so doing. He was a man of high talent and large information, though his personal character was odious. Sir W. Jones, who knew him at Paris, shrank in disgust from his vices; and some of his works are characterized in "La Biographie Universelle" as "a collection of all indecorum." Confined, for his writings, in the castle of Vincennes, he became almost distracted. When death drew near, he sent for a priest, and prepared to make a recantation of his opinions. His friends, however, smuggled him away into the country, where he died concealed.

8. D'ALEMBERT.

D'ALEMBERT was the head of the Encyclopædists. He is said to have been sceptical in everything but mathematics, though less offensive in his writings than the rest. When he was dying, Condorcet ran to the door, and barred it against all entrance, saying afterwards, "If I had not been there, he would have flinched too."

9. MADAME DU DEFFANT.

MADAME DU DEFFANT was conspicuous in the gay circles of France, before the period of the first French Revolution. She bore a high character as a bel-esprit, and was distinguished for wit, whim, and talent. Yet, though the object of constant attention and flattery, she was the victim of ennui, and fatigued her friends by complaining of life as an intolerable burden. In the estimation of her most familiar acquaintance, this tedium was occasioned by her complete dissatisfaction with all the objects for which she had lived, and by her ignorance of the truths which alone can, in any case, render life dignified, and the prospect of death tolerable. In a letter to Horace Walpole, dictated in advanced life, she thus describes her dismal and dreary sensations:—

“Tell me why, detesting life, I yet dread to die; nothing convinces me that anything will survive myself; on the contrary, I perceive the dissolution of my mind as well as that of my body. All that is said on the one side or the other makes no impression upon me; I only listen to my own sensations, and I find only doubt and obscurity. 'Believe,' I am told, 'that is the safest way;' but how can I believe that which I do not understand? If I am not pleased with others, I am still less so with myself. I have more difficulty in enduring myself than any one besides."

This state of mind was what might have been anticipated from the society in which she had, during life, delighted; that, namely, of Voltaire, Grimm, Hume, and the rest of the "philosophers." Her melancholy end was in precise accordance with the tenor of her life. Death seized her whilst in the act of playing at cards, in the midst of a circle of her gay and thoughtless friends