• I am come, faid he, (after the firft falutations were over, and he had kiffed his child, whom Heloifa, with the countenance of an angel, prefented to him,) I am come to take you back to Paris, and to marry you. Heloifa laughed, for fhe imagined, that he only fpoke from gaiety, which was an ufual thing with him.-I am ferious, continued he: I have feen your uncle; he is reconciled to me, and I have promised to marry you.-If you be ferious, replied Heloifa, it becomes me likewife to be fo; and I tell you feriously, that I can never confent to be your wife.-The firm tone, in which the last words were spoken, ftruck Abeillard with furprife.-Your affertion, faid he, is peremptory; but I must hear your reafons.-You shall, faid fhe; and then proceeded.

"If you imagine this ftep will fo far fatisfy my uncle, as to appeafe his anger, Abeillard, you are deceived. I know him well, and he is implacable.-If to fave my honour be your object; most evidently you mistake the means. Is it by difgracing you that I must be exalted? What reproaches fhould I merit from the world, from the church, from the fchools of philofophy, were I to draw from them their brightest ftar? and shall a woman dare to take to herself that man, whom nature meant to be the ornament and the benefactor of the human race? No, Abeillard, I am not yet fo fhameless.-Then reflect on the ftare of matrimony itfelf: with its littleneffes and its cares, how inconfiftent is it with the dignity of a wife man! St. Paul earneftly diffuades from it; fo do the faints; fo do the philofophers of ancient and modern times Think on their admonitions, and imitate their example.-I will fuppofe you engaged in this honourable wedlock. What an enviable affociation; the philofopher and chamber-maids, writing defks and cradles, books and diftaffs, pens and fpindles! Intent on fpeculation, when the truths of nature and religion are breaking on your eye; will you bear the fudden cry of children, the lullaby of nurfes, or the turbulent bustling of diforderly fervants? I fpeak not of your delicacy, which, at every turn, must be disagreeably offended. In the houses of the rich these inconveniences, I own, can be avoided: with you and me, Abeillard, it must be otherwife. In the serious pursuits of wisdom, I am well aware, there is no time to lofe; worldly occupations are inconfiftent with the state. Is philofophy only to have your vacant hours? Believe me, as well totally withdraw from literature, as attempt to proceed in the midft of avocations. Science admits no participation with the cares of life. View the fages of the heathen world, view the philofophifing fects among the Jews, and among us view the real Monks of the prefent day. It was in retirement, in a total feclufion from noify folicitudes, that thefe men pretended to give ear to the infpiring voice of wifdom.-May I fpeak of fobriety and continence, Abeillard? But it does not become me to inftruct you. I know, however, how the fages, of whom I fpeak, did live.-You, moreover, are a churchman, bound to feverer duties. Is it in wedlock you mean to practise them? Will you rife from my fide to fing the holy praifes of the Lord ?-The prerogative of the church may perhaps weigh lightly with you; fupport then the character of a philofopher: if you have no refpect for holy things, let common decency check the intemperance of your defigns. Socrates, my Abeil

lard,

Jard, was a married man; and the example of his life has been fet up as a beacon, to warn his followers from the fatal rock. The feats of Xantippe are upon faithful record.-The hidden feelings of my foul fhall be open to you. Abeillard, it is in you only that all my wishes centre. I look for no wealth, no alliances, no provifion. I have no pleasures to gratify; no will to ferve, but your's. In the name of wife there may be fomething more holy, fomething more impofing: but I vow to heaven, fhould Auguftus, master of the world, offer me his hand in marriage, and fecure to me the uninterrupted controul of the universe, I would deem it more honourable to be called the miftrefs of Abeillard, than the wife of Cæfar."

During this addrefs, Abeillard was filent; but a conflict of paffions, varying his countenance, marked their ftrong emotions. Heloifa fixed her eyes on his, and waited his reply. A paufe of fome moments enfued.-My honour is pledged to your uncle, faid he at last, and it must be done.-If it muft, replied Heloifa with a figh that spoke the reluctance of her foul, it muft: "But God grant that the confequences of this fatal ftep be not as painful, as the joys, which preceded it, have been great!"

Uttering these words, her eyes were raifed towards heaven; and from the folemn tone, with which they were delivered, it seemed, fays Abeillard, as if her mind prefaged fome difaftrous event.'

The refult of this converfation was, that the lovers were privately married; the confequences of which, with refpect to Abeillard, are well known. Although the whole narrative is fufficiently interefting, yet, as it would fuffer by mutilation, we fhall make no farther extract from this part of the work, but fhall proceed to obferve Abeillard in the character of a philofopher. After many difappointments and mortifications, he determined to retire from the world.

As formerly he had wandered through the forefts of Champagne, he had obferved a fpot, the recollection of which now returned upon his mind. It was a fmall fequeftered vale, furrounded by a wood, not diftant from Nogent fur Seine, and a rivulet ran near its fide. It did not appear that the foot of any mortal had hitherto disturbed its folitude. To this place Abeillard haftened, and he spent his first night, as did the other tenants of the foreft, protected only by the wide branches which spread over his head. Heloifa fays, it was, at that time, the receptacle of wild beafts, and the retreat of robbers; that it had not feen the habitations of men, or known the charms of domeftic life. He had one companion, who was an ecclefiaftic.

Abeillard, delighted with the novelty of his fituation, (for when the mind is warmed by a degree of enthusiasm, it can discover beauties in a wildernets,) waited on the owners of the land, and expreffed to them his wishes of becoming an inhabitant of their woods. The undertaking was then no unufual thing; and they very freely gave their confent, and even made him a prefent of any extent of foil he might chufe to occupy.-The philofopher returned, and had foon measured out the diftrict which could bound his defires.-His next ftep was to apply to the bishop of Troyes, in whofe diocefe his new poffeffions lay, for permiffion to build a fmall oratory. This likewife

was

was granted. Without lofs of time, Abeillard then, and his companion, planned the new building, and with the fame hands began to erect it. The materials were not diftant, nor was great skill required to put them together. They collected fome boughs of trees; thefe they tied with twigs; and the structure rofe vifibly into form before their eyes.-Having completed what they called their oratory, and folemnly dedicated it to the holy Trinity, to exprefs his difap probation of the Unitarian fyftem, which his enemies had alfo imputed to him, they constructed a fecond building, which was to be their own dwelling. This, it may be prefumed, was not more highly finished than the temple they had dedicated to their Maker.

• Seldom had Abeillard been more happy than at this busy moment. Free from anxious cares, his mind enjoyed the prefent object. It was not brilliant indeed; but it occupied him. He had efcaped from trouble; the voice of malevolence founded no longer in his ears; and perfecution ceafed to opprefs him. It was the fituation of a weary traveller, who, at the end of his journey, lays down his heavy burden, and feels contented, because the load, which preffed him to the earth, is taken from his fhoulders.--Abeillard rofe with the fun to adore his Maker; he thanked him for the repofe he enjoyed, and he lamented the follies of his life. The day he spent in tudy, or in converfation with his friend, to whom he recounted the adventures and the perils he had gone through. The water of the brook allayed his thirst, and of the very fcanty provifions, which the forefts of Champagne could fupply, he made his meal. With the

birds which fang round him, he retired to reft; and he laid his head down on the turf, carelefs and undisturbed.-A mind like his could not indeed circumfcribe itfelf within the precincts of his lonely habitation it would range the ideal world; enter there into active fcenes; and fometimes perhaps be pleafed with the profpect of future honours and renown. But forefee he could not, that this career of glory was ready to open in the very wilderness, which feemed to have put an eternal bar to the familiar intercourfe of mortals.

When it was publicly known, that Abeillard was again an independent man, and had feceded entirely from the world, the lovers of fcience, and many who had before been his fcholars, enquired anxiously for his abode, refolved, could the learned folitary be difcovered, to put themselves under his tuition, and once more to draw fcience from his lips. Their fearch was foon crowned with fuccefs: they found him fituated, as I have defcribed, in the foreft near Nogent; and they opened their wishes to him.-Abeillard in vain refifted; he faw every avenue to his hermitage filling with young men, and crowds were round him, before he had time to take the advice of friends, or to confult the feelings of his own heart. The step could not at firft feem pleafing, unless already the pure delights of folitude had begun to pall upon his mind. With one voice they requefted, he would again become their mafter. He fhewed them his humble cell, the oratory he had raised, and he pointed to the wildernefs, which their eager fteps had juft penetrated. "Your propofal, faid he to them, is inconfiderate. I can but applaud your thirst after knowlege; and the choice you make of me for an inftructor is truly flattering. But you forget yourfelves. In a moment, this

dreary

dreary fpot will teach you, that fcience, without the conveniences of life, is not worth pursuing."-His remonftrance was to little purpose: when the mind is strongly bent to an object, the view of ordinary difficulties does but animate its exertions.

"If want of conveniences, faid they, be the obftacle which stands in our way, we will foon remove it."- An extraordinary and interefting scene now commenced. They looked round them; when, after a fhort conference, it was determined that, in imitation of Abeillard, they should become their own architects, and provide, in the firft place, against the inclemencies of the air. Their master's cell gave the general plan. They tore down branches from the trees, and they twisted the pliant twigs. In a few hours the business was nearly completed.-Abeillard viewed, with infinite fatisfaction, the bufy fcene; his approbation gave fresh life to their exertions; and it was no longer poffible he could refufe his affent to a petition, which was pronounced with fuch unquestionable marks of fincerity.

He came forward: they read confent in his looks: "With tomorrow's fun, faid he, I will meet you under yon fpreading tree, and with the blefling of heaven on my endeavours, what inftructions it may be in my power to give you, you fhall freely receive from me." They heard his words with general acclamations.

• The wants of nature now called for attention; but when the mind, engroffed with its own thoughts, retires in upon itself, these calls are easily fatisfied. They, whom the luxurious tables of Paris could hardly gratify, now fat down to roots, and they found them favoury. The oaten cake had a relish, which they had not experienced in the ortolan. Their beds were made of dry weeds, or of the leaves which had fallen from the trees.-Thus did this new tribe of philofophers prepare themfelves for the approach of wisdom: the academic grove was truly feen to rife again, and never had the ancient fages, on whofe praifes hiftory dwells with wonder, fought for truth with more ardent enquiries.-Abeillard pronounced his first lecture: it was from the foot of the tree I mentioned: his hearers were feated round; for they had made themfelves benches of boughs, and had raised the green turf into tables.

I have before remarked how extraordinary was this thirst after knowlege, which, with a degree of enthusiasm, of which we can form no idea, fpread itself over the ftates of Europe. But nothing can mark more ftrongly the fallen condition of literature. When learned men are common, and learning itself is very generally diffufed, not only the means of acquiring it are at hand, but there is alfo no novelty in the purfuit, calculated to excite peculiar energy and to roufe the paffions. In the times I am defcribing, a learned man was a phenomenon; and who can be furprised that he should have been viewed with wonder? What is rare is highly prized; and what we prize is fought for, fometimes with an eagernefs which aftonifhes cooler minds, and before which obftacles either vanish, or only ferve to give an additional fpring to exertions -The fcarcity of books, before the invention of printing, was likewife another principal circumftance, which, as it circumfcribed the spread of learning, to did it render thofe, who, furmounting every impediment, attained it, objects of greater admiration. Before

Before the end of the first year, the number of Abeillard's fchelars exceeded fix hundred, fituated in a foreft, fuch as I have described, exposed to the inclement feafons, without a fingle convenience to fmooth the rugged life, or without one amufement, excepting what literary purfuits, fcientific converfation, and their own fociety, could fupply.-The fubjects they difcuffed were either. philofophical or religious, to which Abeillard added differtations on the moral and focial duties, which he could enliven by the brilliancy of his imagination, and by anecdotes drawn from facred and profane hiftory. But it matters little, as I have elsewhere obferved, what our purfuits be, provided they excite attention, and we place our intereft in them. The compofitions indeed of Abeillard I can read with little pleasure; they are jejune, intricate, and inelegant; and to me fuch would have been his lectures. I could not have inhabited the Champagne forefts, nor have travelled in queft of fuch literary lore; and my European contemporaries will not diffent from me: but this only fhews that, with circumftances, our difpofitions vary, and that nothing can be more irrational, than to measure by the fame ftandard, the notions and characters of two ages fo remote, as this and the twelfth century.

Abeillard, as it may be collected from his memoirs, at their hours of recreation, talked to his fcholars of the ancient philofophers; he told them how thefe fages lived; he recounted the purity of their manners, and the eminence of their virtues: he turned to the facred volumes, which relate the lives of the fons of the prophets; and here he found men who, near the waters of Jordan, had emulated the perfection of angels. With rapture he dwelt on the more than mortal virtues of the Baptift, and he followed the first converts to Chriftianity through their exemplary courfe of felf-abafement, of prayer, of recollection, and of temperance. With thefe fplendid epochs he compared the prefent day. They liftened with complacency. In Abeillard they faw the divine Plato: and in themselves that illuftrious group of difciples, which had given renown to the academic walks of Athens.'

From these specimens the reader will perceive that Mr. Berington poffeffes no mean talents for defcription.

[To be concluded in our next.]

ART. III. An Account of the Pelew Iflands, fituated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean. Compofed from the Journals and Com-. munications of Capt. Henry Wilfon, and fome of his Officers, who, in Auguft 1783, were there fhipwrecked in the Antelope, a Packet belonging to the Honourable Eaft India Company. By George Keate, Efq. F. R. S. and S. A. 4to. 11. is. Boards. Nicol. 1788.

TH

HE Antelope Packet was fitted out in England, by the Court of Directors of the Eaft India Company, in the fummer of 1782; and was then generally understood to be going on fome fecret expedition; but of this, or of its patlage out to China, not a fyllable appears in the publication before us.

Mr.