the groundfil of thy gate. Were there a place 'more exalted than the most high throne of God, I would affirm it to be thy place, O mafter of the 'faithful; Gabriel with all his art and knowledge is but a meer fcholar to thee.' Thus, my friend, men think proper to treat angels; but if indeed there be fuch an order of beings, with what a degree of fatirical contempt muft they liften to the fongs of little mortals thus flattering each other. Thus to fee creatures, wifer indeed than the monkey, and more active than the oyfter, claiming to themselves the mastery of Heaven; minims, the tenants of an atom, thus arrogating a partnership in the creation of univerfal Heaven! Surely Heaven is kind that launches no thunder at thofe guilty heads; but it is kind, and regards their follies with pity, nor will deftroy creatures that it loved into being. But whatever fuccefs this practice of making demi-gods might have been attended with in barbarous nations, I do not know that any man became a god in a country, where the inhabitants were refined. Such countries generally have too close an inspection into human weakness, to think it invested with celeftial power. They fometimes indeed admit the gods of ftrangers, or of their ancestors, which had their existence in times of obfcurity; their weakness being forgotten, while nothing but their power and their miracles were remembered. The Chinese, for inftance, never had a god of their own country; the idols which the vulgar worship at this day were brought from the barbarous nations around them. The Roman emperors, who pretended to divinity, were generally taught by a poignard that they were mortal; and Alexander, though he paffed among barbarous countries for a real god, could never perfuade his polite countrymen into a fimili tude tude of thinking. The Lacedemonians fhrewdly complied with his commands by the following farcaftic edict: Ε. Αλεξανδρος Ειλείαι είναι Θέος, Θεος εςω. LETTER CXV. Adieu. TO THE SAME. THERE is fomething irrefiftibly pleafing in the converfation of a fine woman; even though her tongue be filent, the eloquence of her eyes teaches wifdom. The mind fympathizes with the regularity of the object in view, and ftruck with external grace, vibrates into refpondent harmony. In this agreeable difpofition, I lately found myfelf in company with my friend and his niece. Our converfation turned upon love, which the feemed equally capable of defending and infpiring. We were each of different opinions upon this fubject; the lady infifted that it was a natural and univerfal paffion, and produced the happiness of those who cultivated it with proper precaution. My friend denied it to be the work of Nature, but allowed it to have a real existence, and affirmed that it was of infinite fervice in refining fociety; while I, to keep up the difpute, affirmed it to be merely a name, firft ufed by the cunning part of the fair fex, and admitted by the filly part of ours, therefore no way more natural than taing fn uff, or chewing opium. "How is it poffible," cried I, "fion can be natural, when our "that fuch a paf opinions even of beauty, "beauty, which infpires it, are entirely the result "of fashion and caprice? The ancients, who pre"tended to be connoiffeurs in the art, have praised "narrow foreheads, red hair, and eye-brows that "joined each other above the nose. Such were the "charms that once captivated Catullus, Ovid, and "Anacreon. Ladies would at prefent be out of humour, if their lovers praised them for fuch 66 66 graces; and fhould an antique beauty now re"vive, her face would certainly be put under the "difcipline of the tweezer, forehead-cloth and "lead comb, before it could be feen in public 66 company... "But the difference between the ancients and "moderns is not fo great as between the different "countries of the prefent world. A lover of Gonσε gora, for instance, fighs for thick lips; a Chinese "lover is poetical in praife of thin. In Circaffia a ftraight nofe is thought tnoft confiftent with beauty; crofs but a mountain which feparates it from the Tartars, and there flat nofes, tawny "fkins, and eyes three inches afunder, are all the "fafhion. In Perfia and fome other countries, a "man when he marries, chooses to have his bride. "a maid; in the Philippine Islands, if a bridegroom happens to perceive on the first night that "he is put off with a virgin, the marriage is de"clared void to all intents and purpofes, and the "bride fent back with difgrace. In fome parts of "the Eaft, a woman of beauty, properly fed up "for fale, often amounts to' one hundred crowns; "in the kingdom of Loango, ladies of the very 66 beft fashion are fold for a pig, queens however "fell better, and fometimes amount to a cow. In "fhort, turn even to England, do not I there fee "the beautiful part of the fex neglected; and none "now marrying or making love but old men and "old old women that have faved money? Do not I fee beauty from fifteen to twenty-one rendered null "and void to all intents and purposes, and those "fix precious years of womanhood put under a ftatute of virginity? What! fhall I call that rancid paffion love, which paffes between an old bache"lor of fifty-fix and a widow lady of forty-nine? "Never! never! What advantage is fociety to reap from an intercourfe, where the big belly is "ofteneft on the man's fide? Would any perfuade "me that fuch a paffion was natural, unless the "human race were more fit for love as they ap"proached the decline, and, like filk-worms, be"came breeders, juft before they expired ?" Whether love be natural or no, replied my friend gravely, it contributes to the happiness of every fociety into which it is introduced. All our pleasures are fhort, and can only charm at intervals: love is a method of protracting our greatest pleasure; and furely that gamefter, who plays the greateft ftake to the beft advantage, will at the end of life rife victorious. This was the opinion of Vanini, who affirmed, that every hour was loft which was not spent in love. His accufers were unable to comprehend his meaning, and the poor advocate for love was burned in flames, alas, no way metaphorical. But whatever advantages the individual may reap from this paffion, fociety will certainly be refined and improved by its introduction: all laws, calculated to difcourage it, tend to embrute the fpecies and weaken the ftate. Though it cannot plant morals in the human breaft, it cultivates them when there : pity, generofity, and honour receive a brighter polith from its affiftance; and a fingle amour is fufficient entirely to brush off the clown. But it is an exotic of the most delicate conftitu→ tion it requires the greatest art to introduce it into VOL. III. a ftate, G & a ftate, and the fmalleft difcouragement is fufficient to repress it again. Let us only confider with what ease it was formerly extinguifhed in Rome, and with what difficulty it was lately revived in Europe: it feemed to fleep for ages, and at last fought its way among us through tilts, tournaments, dragons, and all the dreams of chivalry. The reft of the world, China only excepted, are and have ever been utter ftrangers to its delights and advantages. In other countries, as men find themselves stronger than women, they lay a claim to a rigorous fuperiority; this is natural, and love which gives up this natural advantage must certainly be the effect of art. An art calculated to lengthen out our happier moments, and add new graces to fociety. I entirely acquiefce in your fentiments, fays the lady, with regard to the advantages of this paffion, but cannot avoid giving it a nobler origin than you have been pleased to affign. I must think, that those countries, where it is rejected, are obliged to have recourfe to art to ftifle fo natural a production, and thofe nations, where it is cultivated, only make nearer advances to Nature. The fame efforts that are used in fome places to fupprefs pity and other natural paffions, may have been employed to extinguifh love. No nation, however unpolifhed, is remarkable for innocence, that is not famous for pasfion; it has flourished in the coldeft, as well as the warmest regions. Even in the fultry wilds of Southern America, the lover is not fatisfied with poffeffing his mistress's perfon without having her mind. In all my Enna's beauties bleft, Amidft profufion ftill I pine; For though the gives me up her breast, *Tranflation of a South-American Ode, But |