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And Politian had the boldnefs to tell his patron, Louis a fortz, Quod eft bonorum princi pum cum viris eruditis tacita quædam naturalifque focietas, ut alteri ab alteris illuftrentur, ac dum fibi mutuo fuffragantur, & gloria principibus,& doctis authoritas concilietur. lib. 11. Ep. 1.

Page 174. It is as bloody a thought, &c.] Nero's expreffion here mentioned, as related by Sueton, was, when fome perfon in his hearing had faid, When I am dead, let the earth be fet on fire, Nero added, Yea whilft, I am alive: This was more cruel than the wifh of Caligula, that the people of Rome had but one neck, that he might destroy, them all at one blow.

Page 184. The ftory of the Italian, &c.] It is reported, that an Italian, having met with one who had highly provoked him, put a poniard to his breaft, and threatened to kill him, unless he would blafpheme God; which the other complying with to fave his life, the Italian prefently killed him, to the end,that dying without repentance, he might be damned to eternity. This ftory of the Italian, if true, is indeed beyond comparifon, and a malice only equal to the devil's. Yet the fpirit of revenge which prevails fo much in Italy, and the many moft dreadful

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inftances of it which are related, make it almost probable.

Page 187. This was the temper, &c.] This was the ftatue of Venus Gnidea made by Praxiteles, of which a certain yonng man became fo enamoured, that Pliny relates, Ferunt, amore captum, cum delituiffet noctu, fimulacro cohafiffe, ejufque cnpiditatis effe indicem maculum. Lucian mentions it in his dial. amor. Tiberius Nero, in his retirement at Caprea, defiled himself and his court with the most unheard of lecheries ; of which Sueton, Seceffu vero Capreenfi, etiam fellariam excogitavit fedem arcanarum libidinum, in quam undique conquifiti puellarum &exolitorum greges, monftrofique concubitus repertores, quos fpintrias appellabat; triplici ferie connexi invicem inceftarent fe coram ipfo, ut afpectu deficientes libidines excitaret. And Tacitus, lib. 6. annal. c. I. fays, Tunc primum ignota ante vocabula reperta funt, fellariorum & fpintriarum, ex fædi-. tate loci ac multiplici patientia. Vide the Doctor's vulgar errors, cap. ult. 1. ult.

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Page 190. Topography of their cities,&c.] This feems intended as a rebuke to thofe conceited people, who, tho' fixed all their lives to one fpot of earth, pretend a more particular knowledge of the fituation of dif

tant

tant provinces, and the laws and manners of foreign nations, than thofe who have fpent most of their time in ftudying the language, the laws and policy of thofe very countries: Of this herd are the bulk of your story-tellers.

Page 191. Seen a prating mariner,&c.] Here the Doctor gives an inftance of that arrogant verbofity noticed above, in a pratting failor, who, from his little practice in navigation, plumes himself in a more thorough knowledge of aftronomy, than those philofophical heads who have applied themselves to the study of that fcience; the refult only of ignorance and pride.

Ibid. line 20. I cannot think that Homer, &c.] This ftory of Homer, as related by Plutarch, is as follows, That Homer having failed from Thebes to the ifland Ion, when he landed, fat down on a rock upon the fhore, when fome fishermen paffing by, he afked them, what they had caught? To which they returned this enigmatical anfwer, That what they had caught they had left behind them; but what they had not caught, they had with them: meaning thereby, that while they were in their boat, and could catch no fish, they employed their time in looking for, and killing lice; and fo all that they had taken they had killed, and

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left behind them; and what they had not taken, they had with them in their cloaths. Homer not being able to explain this riddle, pined away, and died of grief. Pliny, in his elegant letter to his friend Fufcus, wherein he gives him an account of the manner of his hunting, is fuppofed to allude to this riddle, when he fays, Venor aliquando, fed non fine pugillaribus, ut quamvis nihil ceperim, nonnihil referam, lib. 9. Ep. 36.

Page 191. line 23. Or that Ariftotle, &c.] Plutarch refutes thofe who alledged, that Ariftotle either drowned or poifoned himself, for grief that he could not explain the ebbing and flowing of the Euripus. Laertius says, he died of a disease at 63 years of age,

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Page 192, And Ariftotle doth but inftruct us as Plato doth him, &c.] Plato taught that truth was to be preferred to every thing; thofe therefore act very abfurdly, who chufe rather obftinately to adhere to the erroneous opinions of Aristotle and the ancients, than to adopt those which the experience of more modern philofophers has founded on the folid basis of demonftration,

Page 193. line 21. I was never once mar ried.] Our author here gives a fly infinuation against marrying at all, from his own

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example. But we may refer the reader to the ancient lawgivers, particularly Lycurgus and Plato, who made exprefs laws for the punishment of fuch as did not marry. Cornelius Agrippa's cenfure of celibacy is worth transcribing; Qui uxorem, inquit, non habet (etiam fi ditiffimus fit) nihil fere habet quod fuum eft: quia nihil habet tutum ab infidiis, nec habet, cui poffet relinquere, nec cui confidere. Qui uxorem non habet, caret familia, caret propinquis, & fine pofteritatis fpe femper defertus & deftitutus eft furantur illum fervi, defraudantur focii, contemnunt_vi

cini.

Page 193.

Who marry twice,&c.] See 1 Cor. vii. 8. The Heathens likewife were of this opinion, and reckoned it their glory to abstain from a fecond marriage. Hence Dido in Virgil, Æneid. lib. 4.

Ille meos, primus qui me fibi junxit, amores Abftulit; ille habeat fecum, fervetque fepul chro.

And Marcia, Cato's daughter, and Valeria, a noble lady in Rome, are extolled upon this account, that they could not, by any arguments, be induced to a fecond marriage.

Page 194. * I could be content that we might procreate like trees, &c.] A physician long before our Doctor, Hippocrates, was of the

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