covered, many years ago, in the Of thefe 800 rolls or volumes which remain, a few only have been unfolded or unrolled, by a procefs, which, though it requires no great art or dexterity, is extremely flow and tedious. Inftead of employing forty or fifty hands to perform this tafk, and beginping by discovering the subjects or au thors of the books, one or two perfons only have continued to unroll books that chanced first to be chofen, and which have happened to be of no great value: One of them confifts of Differtations on Education, and the other on Mufic. I have not yet learnt if any other books have been unrolled; but I beg leave to fuggeft the following plan for exploring the whole mass in the courfe of a few years, and by that means, in all probability, enriching the world with perfect copies of all the moft capital Greek and Roman claffics; for it is not to be fuppofed that so noble an ancient library as 1000 volumes could be deficient in thefe The art of printing has multiplied fo many infignificant books, and fo many books of mere entertainment are now printed, that an ill chofen English library of 1000 volumes would be no great prize 1500 years hence, nor would it exhibit probably one half of our capital claffics. But the cafe was very different with the antients; fuch a library must have coft the collector four or five thousand pounds, and would be collected with care and difcernment, and admit of no frivolous or uninteresting performances. In fuch a collection we may certainly look for copies of, 1. Titus Livius, which would restore the loft decades of his history. 2. Of Cicero's works, which would reftare his favourite treatife de Re 4. 5. 6. publica, and feveral others, which are mentioned, either by himself, or other Roman claffics. Of Polybius, which would inftruct us in many particulars relating to the Punic wars, and the military hiftory of his age. Of Dionyfius Halicarnaffus. The two Anti-Catones of Julius If the Sovereigns in Europe, who patronize the fciences and fine arts, think proper to apply to the King of the Two Sicilies for permiffion to have tranfcripts of this collection made at their expence, fifty or fixty poor Friars might be conftantly employed to unroll the volumes, and as many more to tranfcribe the books that should be thought neceflary, which, in the course of a few years, would complete this noble undertaking. For this purpofe, the properest mode of beginning the work would be to un roll as much of every book as would fhow what it was, and to proceed with the unrolling of thofe only that should be found worthy of being preferved and tranfcribed; the reft to remain for further confideration, when the more important books had been unrolled and tranfcribed. This plan would be attended with no great expence to any of the Royal Patrons, being divided among fo many, and would immortalize not only their names and their reigns, but the which they lived. age in With refpect to our domestic tran factions, the furvey of the fishing coafts of Scotland, and the Western Ifles, has been productive of literary, as well as commercial advantage. The truly refpectable George Dempe fter, Efq; was accompanied on that tour by feveral Gentlemen of learning and tafte, and by the learned Profeffor Thorkelin of Copenhagen, whom I have already mentioned; who, bes Remarks on Whitaker's Vindication of Queen Mary. fdes difcovering several Danish forts I beg leave likewife to invite the members of this Society, who are members of the Universities in Scotland, or of the Scottish Colleges abroad, to tranfmit to this Society hiftories of their communities from their first inftitution, with catalogues of the MSS. and biographical sketches of the most eminent or learned perfons who have been educated in their seminaries; and where there happen to be important or curious papers, relating to the hiftory or antiquities of Scotland, or letters that have paffed between eminent or STR, 359 learned perfons, that they would tranfmit copies of them to our Library, where they might be arranged in their proper order. Some years ago, I addreffed the Principal of the Scots College at Paris on the fubject of the valuable collec tion of State Papers preferved in their Library; but it feems more proper that the Society fhould, in its own name, request to have an inventory of the MSS. belonging to that College, from which we may be able to judge what deeds or papers we would defire to have tranfcribed; and the fame request fhould be refpectfully made to all the other feminaries abroad. I fhall only add, Gentlemen, on this occafion, that I have received information from feveral of my learned correfpondents, and that they propofe fo fend me valuable fpecimens of the objects of Natural History. I intend to afk their permiffion that they may be prefented (fo far as they do not come within our plan) in your name to the University of Edinburgh, to be depofited in their Museum, for the inftruction of the ftudents of that useful fcience; a donation which will be fuitable to the dignity of this Society, and to that liberality which is the chief ornament of fociety at large, and which I have ever wished to promote to the utmost of my power. To the EDITOR. WORTHY and learned author, had escaped the lefs acute eyes of his the Chriftian name of Lord Carlyle, in 1567, was James, not Michael. "James figned a bond, in favour of "Queen Mary, in 1568, and proba bly died foon after; Michael his brother then fucceeded him, and, "fome time afterwards, when the exact period of this event was no long"er remembered with precifion, a forger came and inferted Michael's name, by mistake, for James's." Sir Robert Douglas, indeed, fays, "Michael, fourth Lord Carlyle, got from James VI. a charter, terrarum Baronia de Torthorald, in which he is defigned frater & bares Jacobi domini Carlyle," and, in proof of this, he quotes chart. in publ. Archiv. It is pitiful to fee how Mr Whitaker bewilders himfelf under the guidance of Sir Robert Douglas; had he no friend or correfpondent in Scotland to put him upon his guard? Whether a James, third Lord Car yle, ever exifted, and whether he died in 1567, 1568, or at fome other time, are queftions in themselves of little importance; but they become important when the authority of a public inftrument, like the bond 1567, depends on their folution. The quotation, by Sir Robert Dous glas, mentioning a charter from James VI. to Michael, the brother and heir of James Lord Carlyle, is altogether imaginary. The records of the Great Seal, from Book 26, which commences a bout 1536, to Book 36, which ends about 1588, have been carefully fearched, and in them there is no charter in favour of any Lord Carlyle, or in favour of any perfon of the name of Carlyle; excepting a charter, dated 4th March 1580, confirming a grant, dated 24th March 1573, fee B. 35. No 334. this charter is fairly recited by Sir Robert Douglas, but it is foreign to the prefent fubject of inquiry. It may be asked, Muft we fuppofe that this charter to " Michael, the bro ther and heir of James," was a mere invention of Sir Robert Douglas? Í anfwer, No, he quoted it incorrectly from a confufed and unintelligible quotation, given by another very incorrect compiler, George Crawford. That miferable genealogift fays, Peerage of Scotland p. 66. " James, Lord Car"lyle died anno 1629, vid. charta in "rotulis Jacobi VI. Michaeli Domini "Carlyle, fratri & hæredi Jacobi "Domino Carlyle de terris de Tor"thorald anno 1529." We may fuppofe, that, by typographical errors, 1629 is put for 1529, and James VI. for James V.; yet this will not prove the existence of a James, Lord Carlyle, for the records have been fearched and there is no fuch charter in 1529. Mr Whitaker, therefore, ought to have proved, that a James, third Lord Carlyle, was born, before he attempted to afcertain the time of his death. Indeed he fays, that " James Lord "Carlyle figned a bond in favour of "Queen Mary in 1568." Here 2gain he follows his guide, whofe words are, "James, third Lord Carlyle, was "one of thefe noble Patriots that en"tered into that memorable affocia"tion, obliging themselves to ftand "by Queen Mary with their lives and "fortunes, &c. anno 1568. MS. in "the Advocates Library, p. 167.” The manufcript quoted by Sir Robert Douglas is the collections made by Mr Matthew Crawford, vol I. p. 157; its title is, “ viii May 1568, "The bond of 9 Earls, 9 Bishops, "15 Lords, and others, for defence "of the Queen of Scots;" the last Lord who figns it is Carleill. But, what may poffibly furprize Mr Whit aker, no Christian name is affixed. . From what has been faid, we may draw this inference, that the authenticity of the public inftrument 1567 remains unfhaken, and Mr Whitaker: may receive this falutary admoni tion, to take heed on what ground. he ftands. I am, &c... of I' Of Rouffeau's Eloife, a Prophecy, by M. de Voltaire. ; N thofe days there will appear in France a very extraordinary perfon, come from the banks of a lake, He will fay unto the people, I am poffeffed by the demon of enthusiasm I have received from heaven the gift of inconfiftency; and the multitude fhall run after him, and many fhall believe in him and he fhall fay unto them, Ye are verily all villains and rafcals; your women are all proftitutes; and I am come to live amongst you. And he will take advantage of the natural lenity of this country to abuse the people: and he will add, All the men are virtuous in the country where I was born; and I will not stay in the country where I was born: and he will maintain, that the fciences and the arts must neceffarily corrupt our morals: and he will treat of all forts of sciences and arts: and he will maintain that the theatre is a fource of prostitution and corruption; and he will compofe operas and plays. He will publish, that there is no virtue but among favages, though he ne ver was among them; he will advife mankind to go ftark naket, and he will wear laced cloathes when he can obtain them. He will employ his time in copying French mufic; and he will tell you that there is no French mufic. : He will moreover affure you, that it is impoffible to preferve your morals if you read romances; and he will compofe a romance; and in this romance fhall be feen, vice in deeds, and virtue in words; and the actors in it shall be mad with love and with philofophy and in this romance we fhall learn how to feduce a young girl philofophically; and the difciple fhall lofe all fame and all modefty: and fhe fhall practife folly, and raise maxims with her mafter; and the fhall be the first to give him a kifs on the lips, and the fhall invite him to come in, anto her, and he fhall go in unto her, -Vol. VI. No 36. and the fhall become pregnant with metaphyfics; and his love-letters fhall be philofophical homilies. And he fhall get drunk with an English nobleman who shall insult him, and he fhall challenge him to fight; and his miftrefs, who hath loft the honour of her own sex, shall decide with regard to that of men; and she fhall teach her mafter, who taught her every thing, that he ought not to fight. And he thall go to Paris, where he fhall be introduced to fome women of the town; and he fhall get drunk, like a fool, and shall sleep with these women of the town: and he shall write an account of this adventure to his miftrefs, and fhe fhall thank him for it. The man alfo who fhall marry his miftrefs, fhall know that fhe is in love to distraction with another; and this husband shall be a good man, and alfo an atheift; and immediately after the marriage, his wife fhall find herself happy, and fhe fhall write to her lover, of whom fhe is doatingly fond, that if he were again at liberty fhe would wed her husband rather than him. And the Philofopher fhall haye a mind to kill himself, and fhall compofe a long differtation to prove that a lover ought always to kill himfelf when he has loft his mistress: and her husband fhall prove to him that it is not worth his while; and he fhall not kill himself. And the Philofopher fhall fet out to make the tour of the world, in order to allow time for the children of his mistress to grow up, and that he may get to Switzerland time enough to be their preceptor, and to teach' them virtue, as he had done their mother. And he fhall fee nothing in the tour of the world, and he shall return to Europe; and when he shall' be arrived there, they fhall still love one another with transport, and they fhall squeeze each other's hands and weep. And And this fine lover, being in a boat alone with his mistress, fhall have a mind to throw her into the water, and himself along with her; and all this they shall call Philosophy and Virtue; and they fhall talk fo much of philofophy and virtue, that no body fhall know what philofophy or virtue is. And the mistress of the Philofopher fhall have a few trees and a rivulet in her garden, and the fhall call that her Elysium, and no body fhall be able to comprehend what that Elyfium is and every day fhe fhall .feed fparrows in her garden; and she shall watch her domeftics, both males and females, to prevent their playing the fame foolish prank that the herfelf had played and the fhall fup in the midft of her harvest people, and the fhall cut hemp with them, having her lover at her fide; and the Philofopher fhall be defirous of cutting hemp the day after, and the day after that, and all the days of his life and fhe fhall be a pedant in every word fhe fays, and all the reft of her fex fhall be contemptible in her eyes; and fhe fhall dic, and before he dies, fhe fhall preach according to custom,, and unto the great edification of the atheist her husband; and she fhall talk in ceffantly till her strength fail her, and fhe fhall drefs herfelf out like a coquette, and die like a faint. The author of this book, like thofe empirics who make wounds on purpose to fhew the virtue of their balfams, poifons our fouls for the glory of cu ring them; and this poifon will act violently on the understanding and on the heart; and the antidote will operate only on the understanding, and the poifon will triumph; and he will boaft of having opened a gulph, and he will think he faves himself from all blame, by crying, Wo be to the young girls who fhall fall into it! I have warned them against it in my preface; and young girls never read a preface: and he will fay, by way of excufe for having written a book which infpires vice, that he lives in an age wherein it is impoffible to be good; and to justify himself, he will flander the whole world, and threa ten with his contempt all those who do not like his book. And every body shall wonder how, with a foul fo pure and virtuous, he could compose a book which is so much the reverfe. And many who believed in him shall believe in him no more. To the Author of the OLLA PODRIDA. Fungar vice Cotis. SIR, HOR. cious ftrictures on particular works of fome ancient and modern writers. But WHEN you commenced your lately, whether deeming fuch fpecula career, as a Periodical Editions unworthy of your attention, or tor, you enumerated with a minute nefs of detail the various ingredients of which your Farrago was to be compofed. Having ever esteemed a difcuffion of the merits of literary compofitions a very pleafing and profitable excrcife of the judgment, with great fatisfaction I perceived that Criticifm formed no inconfiderable part of your defign. In your earlier Numbers, my wishes were gratified by feveral judi catching the momentary but virtuous phrenzy of reformation, you have devoted your lucubrations to objects, to which his Majesty's most gracious Proclamation, and the exertions of those intelligent magiftrates, the Juftices, might be directed with equal propriety, and perhaps with as great a probability of fuccefs. I mean not to reprehend your cooperative industry, but am defirous on ly |