pictures; after the piece is bought, and gazed at eight or ten day's fucceffively, the purchaser's pleafure muft furely be over; all the fatisfaction he can then have is to fhew it to others; he may be confidered as the guardian of a treasure of which he makes no manner of ufe; his gallery is furnished not for himself but the connoiffeur, who is generally fome humble flatterer, ready to feign a rapture he does not feel; and as neceffary to the happinefs of a picture-buyer, as gazers are to the magnificence of an Afiatic proceffion.

I have enclosed a letter from a youth of diftinction, on his travels, to his father in England; in which he appears addicted to no vice, feems obedient to his governor, of a good natural difpofition, and fond of improvement; but at the fame time early taught to regard cabinets and galleries as the only proper fchools of improvement, and to confider a kill in pictures as the propereft knowledge for a man of quality.

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"My lord,

"We have been but two days at Antwerp; "wherefore I have fat down as foon as poffible to give you fome account of what we have feen fince our arrival, defirous of letting no opportunity "pass without writing to fo good a father. Immediately upon alighting from our Rotterdam ma"chine, my governor who is immoderately fond of "paintings, and at the fame time an excellent judge, "would let no time pass till we paid our refpects to "the church of the virgin-mother, which contains "treasure beyond eftimation. We took an infinity "of pains in knowing it's exact dimenfions, and dif"ferred half a foot in our calculation; fo I leave "that to fome fucceeding information. I really be"lieve my governor and I could have lived and died "there. There is scarce a pillar in the whole church "that

5

that is not adorned by a Rubens, a Vander Meuy"len, a Vandyke, or a Woverman. What atti

tudes, carnations, and draperies! I am almoft in"duced to pity the English who have none of those "exquifite pieces among them. As we are willing "to let flip no opportunity of doing business, we "immediately after went to wait on Mr. Hogendorp, "whom you have fo frequently commended for his "judicious collection. His cameas are indeed be"yond price; his intaglio's not fo good. He fhewed દ્વંદ us one of an officiating flamen, which he thought 86 to be an antique; but my governor, who is not to "be deceived in these particulars, foon found it to be 66 an arrant cinque cento. I could not, however, fuf"ficiently admire the genius of Mr. Hogendorp, "who has been able to collect from all parts of the

έσ

world a thousand things which no body knows the "ufe of. Except your lordship and my governor, "I do not know any body I admire fo much. He is indeed a furprizing genius. The next morning early, as we were refolved to take the whole day "before us, we fent our compliments to Mr. Van Sprockken, defiring to fee his gallery, which requeft he very politely complied with. His gallery measures fifty feet by twenty, and is well filled; "but what furprized me moft of all, was to fee an holy family just like your lordship's which this in"genious gentleman affures me is the true original. "I own this gave me inexpreffible uneafinefs, and I

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fear it will to your lordship, as I had flattered my

felf that the only original was in your lordship's "poffeffion; I would advise you, however, to take "yours down till it's merit can be afcertained, my governor affuring me, that he intends to write a long differtation to prove it's originality. One might study in this city for ages, and ftill find fomething new: we went from this to view the cardinal's ftatues, which are really very fine; there

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"were three fpintria executed in a very mafterly 66 manner, all arm in arm: the torfe which I heard ('C you talk fo much of, is at last discovered to be a "Hercules fpinning, and not a Cleopatra bathing, as your lordship had conjectured: there has been "a treatise written to prove it.

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My lord Firmly is certainly a Goth, a Vandal, "no taste in the world for painting. I wonder how 66 any call him a man of taste; paffing through the "ftreets of Antwerp a few days ago, and obferving "the nakedness of the inhabitants, he was fo bar"barous as to obferve, that he thought the best me"thod the Flemings could take, was to fell their pic"tures, and buy cloaths. Ah, Cogline! We fhall

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go to-morrow to Mr. Carwarden's cabinet, and the "next day we fhall fee the curiofities collected by "Van Ran, and the day after we shall pay a visit to "Mount Calvary, and after that—but I find my 66 paper finished; fo with the most fincere wishes to your lordship's happiness, and with hopes after "having feen Italy, that centre of pleasure, to re"turn home worthy the care and expence which "has been generoufly laid out in my improve

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From Hingpo, a flave in Perfia, to Altangi, a travelling philofopher of China, by the way of Moscow. FORTUNE has made me the flave of another, but nature and inclination render me entirely fubfervient to you; a tyrant commands my body, but

you

you are mafter of my heart. And yet let not thy inflexible nature condemn me when I confefs that I find my foul fhrink with my circumftances. I feel my mind not less than my body bend beneath the rigours of fervitude; the mafter whom I ferve grows every day more formidable. In fpite of reafon which fhould teach me to defpife him, his hideous image fills even my dreams with horror.

A few days ago a chriftian flave, who wrought in the gardens, happening to enter an arbour where the tyrant was entertaining the ladies of his Haram with coffee, the unhappy captive was instantly stabbed to the heart for his intrufion. I have been preferred to his place, which though less laborious than my former ftation, is yet more ungrateful, as it brings me nearer him whofe prefence excites fenfations at once of difguft and apprehenfion.

Into what a state of mifery are the modern Perfians fallen? A nation famous for fetting the world an example of freedom, is now become a land of tyrants, and a den of flaves. The houseless Tartar of Kamkatika, who enjoys his herbs and his fifh in unmolefted freedom, may be envied, if compared to the thousands who pine here in hopeless fervitude, and curfe the day that gave them being. Is this juft dealing, Heaven! to render millions wretched to fwell up the happiness of a few; cannot the powerful of this earth be happy without our fighs and tears; must every luxury of the great be woven from the calamities of the poor! It muft, it muft furely be, that this jarring difcordant life is but the prelude to fome future harmony; the foul attuned to virtue here, fhall go from hence to fill up the univerfal choir where Tien prefides in perfon, where there fhall be no tyrants to frown, no fhackles to bind, nor no whips to threaten, where I fhall once more meet my father with rapture, and give a loose to filial piety, where I fhall hang on his neck, and к3 hear

hear the wisdom of his lips, and thank him for all the happiness to which he has introduced me.

The wretch whom Fortune has made my master, has lately purchafed feveral flaves of both fexes: among the reft I hear a chriftian captive talked of with admiration. The eunuch who bought her, and who is accustomed to furvey beauty with indifference, fpeaks of her with emotion! Her pride, however, aftonishes her attendant flaves not lefs than her beauty. It is reported that the refufes the warmeft folicitations of her haughty lord: he has even offered to make her one of his four wives upon changing her religion, and conforming to his. It is probable the cannot refufe fuch extraordinary offers, and her delay is perhaps intended to enhance her favours.

I have just now feen her; fhe inadvertently approached the place without a veil, where I fat writing. She feemed to regard the heavens alone with fixed attention: there her moft ardent gaze was directed. Genius of the fun! what unexpected foftnefs! what animated grace! her beauty feemed the tranfparent covering of virtue. Celestial beings could not wear a look of more perfection, while forrow humanized her form, and mixed my admiration with pity. I rose from the bank on which I fat, and The retired; happy that none obferved us; for fuch an interview might have been fatal.

I have regarded, till now, the opulence and the power of my tyrant, without envy; I faw him with a mind incapable of enjoying the gift of fortune, and confequently regarded him as one loaded, rather than enriched, with its favours; but at prefent, when I think that fo much beauty is reserved only for him; that fo many charms fhall be lavished on a wretch incapable of feeling the greatnefs of the bleffing, I own, I feel a reluctance to which I have hitherto been a ftranger,

But