tail of his very extraordinary life, of the military actions he had a part in, and the characters of the Generals and Ministers he had known. Montefquieu often recalled to mind thofe converfations, and related many paffages of them to his friends. From Venice he went to Rome. In this ancient capital of the world, which is ftill fo in some respects, he particularly attended to that by which it is at prefent most difanguifhed, the works of Raphael, Titian, and Michael Angelo. He had never particularly ftudied the fine arts but the expreffion that fhines forth in the mafter-pieces of that kind, never fails to strike every man of genius. Accuftomed to attend to nature, he knows her when he sees her imitated; as a good likeness ftrikes all to whom the original is familiar. After travelling through Italy, M. de Montefquieu went to Switzerland, and carefully examined the vaft countries that are watered by the Rhine. There remained nothing more in Germany for him to fee; for Frederick was not yet come to the crown. After laying fome time in the United Provinces, which are an admirable monument of what Indußry can do animated by the love of Liberty, he came over to England, where he refided two years. He had nothing to regret, but that he did not come fooner. Locke and Newton were both dead. But he had often the honour to wait on their Protectrefs, Queen Caroline, who cultivated philofophy on the throne, and had a juft relish for M. de Montefquieu's converfation. He was equally well received by the Nation; who in this inftance did not want to have the example fet them by the court. At London he formed connections with men accustomed to meditation, who qualified themselves for great actions by ftudy. From them he informed himself of the nature of the English government, and acquired a perfect knowledge of it. Germany, he faid, was fit only to travel in, Italy to refide in, England to think in, andFrance to live in. On his return to France, he retired for two years to his feat at la Brede, and put the laft hand to his work, of the causes of the rise and fall of Rome, Sur la cause de la grandeur, & de la decadence des Romains; which appeared in 1734. It might justly have been entitled, The Roman Hiftory, for the use of Statemen and Philofophers. How much reputation foever he might have gained by this and his former works, he had, as yet, only cleared the way for a much greater undertaking, that which ought to immortalife his name, and render his memory refpectable to future ages. He had long before this time formed the defign of it: he had meditated on the execution of it for twenty years, or rather his whole life was one continued meditation. He first made himself, as it were, a ftranger in his own country, that he might know it better. He next vifited Europe, and with the deepest attention ftudied the characteristics of the different nations by which it is inhabited. That famous island, which glories fo much in its laws, and makes fuch a bad use of them, was to him, in this long tour, what the ifle of Crete was formerly to Lycurgus, a school where he improved in knowledge, without apIn fine, he proving of the whole. had examined and judged nations and eminent men that no longer exift, but in the annals of theworld. Thus he gradually gradually rofe to the highest title a wife man can arrive at, that of Legiflator of nations. If he was animated by the importance of his fubject, he was difcouraged by its extent: he abandoned and refumed it several times. At length, encouraged by his friends, he muftered all his ftrength, and gave the public his Spirit of Laws. Among the authors by whom he was affifted, and from whom he borrowed some of his fentiments, the principal are the two of deepest meditation, Tacitus and Plutarch: but, though a philofopher who reads two, may difpenfe with many others, Montefquieu neglected or flighted none that could be of ufe. The Spirit of Laws difcovers immenfe reading: and the judicious ufe which the author made of the prodigious mafs of materials will appear ftill more furprizing, when it is known that he was almost wholly deprived of fight, and obliged to make ufe of other people's eyes. Though M. de Montefquieu did not long furvive the publication of his Efprit des Loix, he had the fatisfaction to fee the beginning of its effects upon the French nation; the natural love of the French to their country, turned to its proper object; a taste for commerce, agriculture, and the ufeful arts, beginning to fpread throughout that kingdom; and that general knowledge of the principles of government, which renders the people more attached to what they ought to love. Nevertheless, a multitude of pieces appeared in France against his book. The anonymous author of a periodical work, who imagined himself the fucceffor of Pafchal, because he fucceeded to his opinions, thought to ruin M. de Montefquieu, but was the occafion of new luftre being caft on his name, as a man of learning, by provoking him to write a Defence of his Spirit of Laws. This work may ferve as a model on account of the moderation, truth, and humour that appear throughout the whole of it. M. de Montefquieu could eafily have rendered his adversary odious; but he chofe rather to make him ridiculous. What adds to the value of this excellent piece, is, that the author, without thinking of it, has in it drawn a true picture of himself: those who knew him imagine they hear him speak; and pofterity, when they read his Defence, will fee that his conversation was not inferior to his writings. Whilft the infects thus buzzed about and molefted him in his own country, M. Daffier, famous for his medals of illuftrious men, went from London to Paris, in 1752, to ftrike a medal of M. de Montefquieu. M. de la Tour, alfo, an eminent painter, was very defirous to paint the author of the Spirit of Laws: but M. de Montesquieu conftantly refused, in a polite manner, his preffing folicitations. M. Daffier met with the fame difficulties at firft: Don't you think (faid he one day to Montefquieu) that there is as much pride in refufing my requeft, as there would appear in granting it?' Difarmed by this pleafantry, he fuffered M. Daffier to do what he pleased. He was at laft in peaceable poffeffion of the glory he fo justly acquired, when he was taken ill in the beginning of February. His health, naturally delicate, had long before begun to break by the flow and almolt imperceptible effects of his clofe ftudy, the chagrin given R 2 him him on account of his work, and the multiplicity of company that crowded to him at Paris. His end was worthy of his life. Oppreffed by grievous pain, and at a distance from a family he loved, he breathed his last with the tranquillity of a good man, conscious of having devoted his talents to the fervice of virtue and mankind: He died on the 10th of February, 1755, univerfally and fincerely regretted. His virtues (fays Lord Chefterfield) did honour to human nature, his writings juftice. A friend to mankind, he afferted 'their undoubted and unalienable rights with freedom, even in his country, whose prejudice in matters of religion and government he had long lamented, and en⚫deavoured (not without fome fuccefs) to remove. He well knew, and juftly admired the happy 'conftitution of this country, where 'fixed and known laws restrain monarchy from tyranny, berty from licentioufnefs. His works will illuftrate his name, ⚫ and furvive him as long as right ⚫ reason, moral obligation, and the true spirit of laws fhall be underfood, refpected, and maintained.' With regard to his private life. In company he was always pleasant and gay his converfation, by the many men and nations he had converfed with, was fprightly, agreeable, and inftructive. It was abrupt, like his ftyle; full of piquant fallies, without bitterness or fatire. Nobody told a ftory with more life, readinefs, and grace, and lefs formality he knew that the conclufion of a pleafant ftory is the chief point, and he haftened to it, and produced the defired effect, without having promifed it. The pleafure found in his company : and li was not the effect of his temper and genius, but of a kind of regimen, alfo, which he obferved in his ftudies: though capable of deep and long-continued meditation, he never exhaufted his ftrength; but always quitted labour before he felt any fenfation of fatigue. Nothing does more honour to his memory, than his economy; which was thought too great in an age of avarice and diffipation, when its motives were not perceived, nor if perceived, could have been felt. Beneficent, and confequently just, M. de Montefquieu would take from his family nothing of what he gave to relieve the diftreffed, nor of the large expences occafioned by his long travels, the diforder in his eyes, and the printing of his works. He left to his children the inheritance of his father, without diminution, and without increase. He married in 1715, Jane de Lartigue, daughter of Pierre de Lartigue, Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment of Maulévrier; by whom he had two daughters, and a fon, who by his character, his manners, and his writings, hath fhewn himfelf worthy of fuch a father. We omitted to mention in its place fome of the author's lefs confiderable works, which ferved him for relaxation. The moft remarkable of thefe is the Temple de Gnide, which appeared foon after the Lettres Perfannes. In this piece he paints the delicacy and naivety of paftoral love, as it appears in a mind uncorrupted by the commerce of the world. He concludes in the preface, in which he represents the work as a translation from theGreek, with thefe words: If grave people should defire of me a lefs ⚫ frivolous work, I can fatisfy 'them: them: I have been employed for these 30 years on 12 pages, which are to contain all that we 'know of metaphyfics, politics, and morals; and all that very great authors have forgotten in the volumes they have written on ' thofe sciences. Some remarkable paffages of the life and death of the celebrated Dr. Boerhaave. IT was the daily practice of that eminent phyfician Dr. Boerhaave, throughout his whole life, as foon as he arofe in the morning, which was generally very early, to retire for an hour to private prayer, and meditation on fome part of the fcriptures. He often told his friends, when they asked him how it was poffible for him to go through fo much fatigue? that it was This which gave him fpirit and vigour in the bufinefs of the day. This he therefore recommended as the best rule he could give; for nothing, he faid, could tend more to the health of the body, than the tranquility of the mind; and that he knew nothing which could fupport himself, or his fellow creatures, amidst the various diftreffes of life, but a well-grounded confidence in the Supreme Being upon the principles of Chriftianity. This remark of the Doctor's is undeniably juft, for a benevolent manner of acting, and a true greatness of foul, can never flow from any other fource than a consciousness of the Divine favour and affiftance. This was ftrongly exemplified in his own illnefs in 1722, which can hardly be told without horror, and by which the course of his lectures as well as his practice was long inter rupted. He was for five months confined to his bed by the gout, where he lay upon his back without daring to attempt the leaft motion, because any effort renewed his torments, which were fo exquifite, that he was at length not only deprived of motion but of fenfe.Here his medical ART was at a ftand, nothing could be attempted, becaufe nothing could be propofed with the leaft profpect of fuccefs. But having (in the fixth month of his illness) obtained fome remif fion, he determined to try whether the juice of fumitory, endive, and fuccory, taken thrice a day in large quantities (viz. above half a pint each dofe) might not contribute. to his relief, and by a perfeverance in this method he was wonderfully recovered. This patience of Boerhaave's was founded not on vain reafonings, like that of which the Stoicks boafted, but on a religious compofure of mind, and Chriftian refignation to the will of GOD. Of his fagacity and the wonderful penetration with which he often difcovered and defcribed, at the firft fight of a patient, fuch diftempers as betray themselves by no fymptoms to common eyes, fuch furprizing accounts have been given, as can scarcely be credited, though attested beyond all doubt.-Yet this great mafter of medical knowledge was fo far from a presumptuous confidence in his abilities, or from being puffed up by his riches, that he was condefcending to all, and remarkably diligent in his profeffion; and he often used to say, that the life of a patient (if trifled with, or neglected) would one day be required at the hand of the phyfician. He always called the R 3 poor poor his best patients, for GOD, faid he, is their pay-master. The activity of his mind fparkled vifibly in his eyes.-He was always chearful, and defirous of promoting every valuable end of converfation; and the excellency of the Chriftian religion was frequently the fubject of it; for he afferted on all proper occafions, the Divine authority and facred efficacy of the fcriptures; and maintained, that they only could give peace of mind, that fweet and facred peace which paffeth all understanding; fince none can conceive it, but he who has it; and none can have it, but by Divine communication. He never regarded calumny, nor detraction, (for Boerhaave himself had enemies) nor ever thought it neceffary to confute them. They are Sparks, faid he, which if you do not blow, will go out of themselves." The fureft remedy againft fcandal, is TO LIVE IT DOWN by a perfeverance in well-doing; and by praying to God that he would cure the distempered minds of those who traduce, and injure us.' An excellent method this; efpecially as it keeps our minds contented and unruffled, whilft the hearts of our enemies are overflowing with rancour, envy, and other diabolical paffions. ་ He was not to be over-awed, or depreffed by the prefence, frowns, or infolence of great men, but perfifted on all occafions in doing what was right, regardless of the confequences. He could, too, with uncommon readiness, and almost to a certainty, make a conjecture of men's inclinations and capacity by their afpect.-A fagacity perhaps unequalled, and which often fur prized even his most intimate ac quaintance, though they fo well knew his talents. Being once asked by a friend, who had often admired his patience under great provocations, whether he knew what it was to be angry, and by what means he had fo entirely fuppreffed that impetuous and ungovernable paffion? Dr. Boerhaave anfwered, with the utmoft franknefs and fincerity, that he was naturally quick of refentment, but that he had, by daily prayer and meditation, at length attained to this mastery over himself.—But this he faid was the work of God's Grace; for he was too fenfible of his own weakness to afcribe any thing to himself, or to conceive that he could fubdue paffion, or withstand temptation by his own natural power: he attributed every good thought, and every laudable action to the Father of Goodness, To the will of God he paid an abfolute fubmiffion, without endeavouring to difcover the reasons of his unfearchable determinations; and this he accounted the first and moft inviolable duty of a Christian. About the middle of the year 1737 he felt the first approaches of that fatal illness, which brought him to the grave, viz. a diforder in his breast, which was at times very painful; often threatened him with immediate fuffocation; and terminated in an univerfal dropfy; but during this afflictive and lingering illness, his conftancy and firmnefs did not forfake him. He neither intermitted the neceffary cares of life, nor forgot the proper preparations of death. About three weeks before his diffolution, when the Rev. Mr. Schultens, one of the moft |