of the swindler, or the practices of the profligate debauchee, in a village or country town, would soon be compelled, by the hisses of infamy, to desert the place, or to live there in solitude. But in a city, even men adorned with the robes of magistracy may proceed, with little notice, in the most scandalous conduct.

Weakness of body and weakness of understanding are often found to characterize the inhabitants of the capital. Luxury, want of air, want of sleep, excess in food, and in sensual indulgence, have a natural tendency to debilitate. And if there were not continual supplies from the north, I know not whether the city would not exhibit the human race in a most lamentable condition of imbecility, folly, distortion, and deformity. Compare the limbs of the volunteer soldiers in the metropolis with those of the rustic militia, or regulars; compare the conduct and understanding of him who was born within the sound of Bow Bell, with those of the hardy native of Yorkshire or Scotland.

The

The extremes of irreligion and enthusiasm mark the manners of the capital. These, indeed, are the natural consequences of some among the many bad dispositions already enumerated. Sunday is considered by the thrifty trader as a holiday, on which he may indulge without imprudence. It is therefore distinguished by many from the rest of the week, solely by excess, and by vicious indulgences. parish churches are neglected; nor is there a great concourse to any place of worship, except where some enthusiast or hypocrite has opened a receptacle for those who labour under the symptoms of idiotism or insanity. The symptoms are often confirmed under this injudicious course, till they arrive at a degree of madness, real and most melancholy.

ners of the metropolis with two intentions. One is, to prevent, in some degree, the prevailing practice of emigrating from the country, from the seats of health and comparative innocence, to that sink of sin, and that grave of the human race, a city too crowded with people, and overrun with every abomination. The other is, to suggest a hint which may alleviate that part of the evil which admits a remedy. The love of money, of distinction, of pleasure, will probably frustrate the former purpose; but the latter, in a day of national distress, or under other circumstances favourable to virtue, may possibly be accomplished.

To promote a reformation of manners, additional authority and efficiency must be given to the clergy and magistrates of London. Both of them are at this time looked upon by the vulgar, both high and low, with sovereign contempt. The churches are left to curates, or poor incumbents, who, in a place where riches are idolized, hold a rank scarcely equal to the keeper of an alehouse or an oil-shop. The justices of Middlesex have long been the standing objects of hatred and derision. Are the London clergy, who labour strenuously in their vocation, and on whom so much of the state of morals and Christianity depends, particularly countenanced by the ministry or the bishops? It is parliamentary interest which procures mitres, and stalls, and livings; and though a city curate, or incumbent, should convert millions from the error of their ways, he would still be suffered to elbow his way along Cheapside in his threadbare coat and tattered gown; pointed out and laughed at by every apprentice. The common people will not discriminate. They will despise religion and morals when they see the teachers of them poor, mean, and neglected.

&c. that a London clergyman, who has promoted every charity, and probably reformed great numbers, during thirty or forty years, shall be suffered to live and die with nothing but a curacy and a beggarly lectureship; and that, in the mean time, he who is related to a Lord, or connected with Members of Parliament, though he never preached, and can hardly read, shall be loaded with dignities and pluralities? He who would reform the capital, I repeat, must render the clergy respectable in the eyes of the vulgar, and the magistrates formidable.

No. CXXXII.

On Philelphus and Theodore Gaza, polite Scholars of the Fifteenth Century.

THOUGH the admirer of elegant letters will find his sweetest, most solid and most constant pleasures of the learned kind, in the writings of the Augustan age; yet he will often feel his curiosity powerfully excited and amply rewarded by those among the revivers of learning who are distinguished by the politeness of their literary accomplishments. I was lately amusing myself in this pleasant walk of classical literature, when I accidentally met with the epistles of Philelphus. Though they are not without a few expressions which mark the barbarism of his times, they possess a considerable share of elegance, and partake much of the graces which shine so agreeably in the epistles of Pliny and Cicero.

Philelphus was born at Tollentino, in Italy, in the year 1398; a very early period for so uncommon an

after having filled a long life with the most laborious application. Let it be remembered, that printing was unknown at that time, and that not only the books which were composed, but which were also read, were often painfully transcribed by the student.

Philelphus was no inconsiderable poet, but was crowned with laurel, according to the fashion of the times, by Alphonso, king of Naples. He wrote five different works in verse, and, according to his own account in one of his letters, they consisted of ten books of satires, five books of miscellaneous poems, the Sfortiad in eight books, ten books of epigrams, and three books of Greek poems. The number of verses in the whole, as calculated by himself, amounted to thirty-three thousand eight hundred. He has omitted, in this computation, his Nicholaus, a poem in two books, and in sapphic verse, which he composed in honour of Pope Nicholas the Fifth, by whom he was greatly esteemed, and who had invited him, by a large present, to undertake the translation of Homer into Latin. He was scarcely less voluminous in prose, but less original, as his prosaic works consist chiefly of translations from Lysias, Aristotle, Zenophon, Hippocrates, and Plutarch. Though he has also written two books of Convivia, three entitled Commentationes Florentinæ, five on Moral Discipline, and the Life and Exploits of Francis Sfortia, in compliment to whom the Sfortiad, which has been mentioned already, was composed. There are also Orationes, of which Erasmus speaks rather unfavourably in his Ciceronianus.

But the only work of Philelphus which I have had an opportunity of inspecting, is, the Epistles, of which this prolific author, in the course of a long life, has written no fewer than thirty-seven books. These abound with eloquence, and with such literary

anecdotes and particulars as cannot but afford amusement to the curious scholar. Though Morhoff rather slights them, yet Erasmus, a much better judge, acknowledges that they resemble Cicero.

I present the reader with an extract from one of them, selected for no other reason than that I happen to be reading it at the time I am writing, and that it characterizes the spirit of the author, and the great attachment which he bore to books. Cardinal Bes

sario, the patriarch of Constantinople, had applied to him, desiring him to sell his copy of Homer's Iliad; to which request Philelphus thus replies: "That copy of Homer's Iliad which the very learned Theodore Gaza has written out for me, I value so much, that I would not part with it to any man, for all the vast and wonderful treasures of Cresus. I am really surprised that you should think that I, who always had the character of generosity, should be so much changed as to be capable of avarice. I have learned to give away many things, but to sell nothing: particularly books; than which I esteem nothing of greater value. But this book of Homer is so dear to my heart, and affords me so much pleasure, that life itself can furnish nothing more delightful. Therefore pardon me in this one thing. If I can gratify you in any thing else, you may command me, and shall not be disappointed." My paper will not admit a number of citations, and I will therefore content myself with referring the lover of elegant latinity and literary anecdotes to the original collection.

It is a circumstance which adds to our surprise in contemplating this example of literary industry, that Philelphus was very much engaged in wars and in embassies; so true is it, that the greatest exertions of mind are compatible with the most active life. His writings are not free from faults, from that in