You will think the fentiments of the philofophers very odd state-news— but do you know who the philofophers are, or what the term means here? In the first place, it comprehends almoft every body; and in the next, men who avowing war against popery, aim, many of them, at a fubverfion of all religion, and fill many more, at the deftruction of regal power. How do you know this? you will fay; you, who have been but fix weeks in France, three of which you have been confined to your chamber. True: but in the first period I went every where, and heard nothing elfe; in the latter I have been extremely vifited, and have had long and explicit converfations with many, who think as I tell you, and with a few of the other fide, who are no less perfuaded that there are fuch intentions. In particular, I had two officers here t'other night, neither of them very young, whom I had difficulty to keep from a ferious quarrel, and who, in the heat of the difpute, informed me of much more than I could have learned with great pains." P. 123. He then mentions a moft curious paper, which he fent as a proof of these ideas, but which, very unfortunately, does not appear to be preferved. A paper on that fubject which was moft curious then, would at this day have been a curiofity of the highest order. We have beftowed upon thefe volumes fo much time and space, that we cannot undertake a detailed examination of the Letters. We fhall felect one more paffage, which presents itself in the 21st letter to H. Conway. It is a fhort but fpirited sketch of the debate, in which Mr. W. Ge rard Hamilton made the speech which obtained him the name of fingle-fpeech. The date is November 15, 1755. The debate was on the addrefs. The clofe is thus defcribed. "Then there was a young Mr. Hamilton who fpoke for the firft time, and was at once perfection: his fpeech was fet, and full of antithefis, but the antithefes were full of argument: indeed his fpeech was the moft argumentative of the whole day; and he broke through the regularity of his own compofition, anfwered other people, and fell into his own track again, with the greatest eafe. His figure is advantageous, his voice ftrong and clear, his manner fpirited, and the whole with the ease of an established fpeaker. You will ask what could be beyond this? Nothing, but what was beyond what ever was, and that was Pitt! He fpoke at paft one, for an hour and thirty-five minutes: there was more humour, wit, vivacity, finer language, more boldness, in fhort more aftonishing perfections than even you, who are ufed to him, can conceive. He was not abufive, yet very attacking on all fides: he ridiculed my lord Hillsborough, crushed poor fir George, terrified the attorney, lafhed my lord Granville, painted my lord of Newcastle, attacked Mr. Fox, and even hinted up to the duke (of Cumberland)." P. 42. It will probably be the opinion of many who examine these letters, that the collection might have been leffened without any injury to the author's fame, and that here and there a paffage fhould have been omitted from regard to it. We fhall not however undertake to collect thefe inftances; to fome we have already alluded; others we have now in our eye, but fhall fupprefs. It must be allowed, at the fame time, that the collection, amidst many trifles, exhibits abundant marks of that fingular and ready humour for which the writer was remarkable, and offers to the reader a confiderable variety of amufement. ART. XI. Archeologia, or Mifcellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity. Vol. XII. (Continued from our laft, p. 108.). AFTER fo fevere a reprobation of one or two articles pre ceding, we turn with fatisfaction to what immediately prefents itself to our notice," No. VI. An Epistolary Differtation upon the Life and Writings of Robert Wace, an Anglo-Norman Poet of the Twelfth Century"; by M. de la Rue, Royal Profeffor of Hiftory in the University of Caen. "that "It was under the reign of Henry the Second of England," fays this author, in language furprisingly correct for a foreigner, there flourished a celebrated Anglo-Norman poet named WACE, whose works, at that time the delight of the monarch and his court, are at prefent to be esteemed as one of the most ancient monuments of French literature; but inafmuch as France owes these precious relics to a king of Great Britain, and as their author was born in a country which has continually remained fince the Conqueft under the power of the Englifh," meaning, as appears afterward, Jerfey, a part of Normandy, the Society, he hopes, will "perufe with fome degree of fatisfaction a memoir upon the life and writings of this poet. The difcuffion will probably be deemed interefting, both upon account of its novelty, and from the circumftance of this writer being altogether unknown to the English biographers. Befides, most of thofe learned men who have written upon his works, have been entirely mistaken either in the feries of them which they have given, or in the opinions which they have adopted concerning them. It is my object, to correct their errors." P. 50. He accordingly corrects them with a mild, yet triumphant manner. "It is with concern," he notices among other matters, "that we find in Mr. Warton's Hiftory of English Poetry the existence of this Euftache renewed and defendedt. This learned man had immediately before * Who was an imaginary author. Rev. him him the valuable manuscripts of the British Museum which refute it, together with Layamon and Robert de Brunne, who, in the 12th and 13th centuries, atteft their having tranflated the Brut into English verfe from the work of Maitre Wace; and yet he prefers to these moft weighty and decifive authorities that of Fauchet, who wrote at the end of the 13th century, and trufted to manuscripts equally faulty and unfaithful." P. 61. Having recounted the feveral works of Wace, the author proceeds thus: "Such a multitude of works from the pen of the fame author, engaged the attention of Henry II. who, to reward his merit, bestowed on him a canonry in the cathedral of Bayeux. Monfieur Lancelot, in his explanation of the tapestry of Queen Matilda preferved in the treasury of that cathedral, has contended that Wace borrowed several facts, which he could not have found elsewhere, from that valuable monument. It is certain, that by means of the works of our poet, Monfieur Lancelot has very happily explained all the circumstances defcribed in the tapestry; but we do not perceive how it is to be thence inferred, that the poet is neceffarily indebted to it for feveral of his defcriptions. Wace is fo exact in citing his authorities, that his filence refpecting what this monument prefented him with, is in our opinion a certain proof, that he did not make any ufe of it. Befides, the tapestry of Matilda only exhibits events relating to the conqueft of England; and this author had lived with fo many eye-witneffes of it, that it is not to be wondered at, that, intending to write its hiftory, he fhould have made the most minute refearches, and have detailed upon this fubject facts which are to be met with in no other hiftorians whatever. In fhort, he informs us that his own father was prefent at the battle of Haftings; he relates the particular circumftances of it, which he had learned from him; and he expreffes himself throughout the whole with fo much candour, that we are convinced he would have mentioned this tapestry, if he had derived from it the leaft affiftance." P. 76. That we may completely introduce, to the acquaintance of our readers, an historian hitherto almost wholly unknown to our Countrymen, we fhall give them the concluding obfervation of this writer concerning him. "Such are the ideas," he informs us at the close, " which I have been able to collect concerning the life and writings of this author. With respect to the advantages, that may be derived from his works, they will certainly furnish any one who may think it worth while to perufe them, with new lights upon the history, the government, and the manners and cuftoms of the Normans. The antiquary will at firft remark with afstonishment, that their language in Wace's time has been "Bibl. Cotton Calig. A. ix. Otho. c. xiii. Robert de Brunne, in appendice Chronic. Pet. de Langtoft, t. 1. p. xcviii," preferved preferved even to our own days, in the countries of Lower Normandy. He will perceive their progrefs in the various arts; their attainments in that of war; their arms and their military cuftoms; their method of attacking caftles and ftrong holds; the ftate of their marine and their commerce; the height to which they have carried architecture and other sciences, together with the monuments they have left us. The genealogift will find many curious and interesting facts, relating to ancient families; he will feel nimfelf rewarded, in the perufal of the names of the knights who were prefent at the battle of Hattings; and of the noble actions by which each of them fignalized his valour. In a word, the hiftorian will learn with pleasure many circumftances and details, which are not to be found in any other writer." P. .79. The author thus concludes a differtation, that feems to want nothing in fidelity, in accuracy, and in novelty of information; that corrects a number of mistakes, which have hitherto prevailed among even critical writers on both fides the channel; and brings to our notice a number of works, highly ufeful to the illuftration of Norman history among us. "No. X." is an "Account of a Roman Sepulture lately found in Lincolnshire, by Sir Jofeph Banks, K. B. P. R. S." But, before we proceed upon this, we must enter our protest against the term ufed in the title. Sepulture, in our language, never bears the fenfe here affigned to it, however it may do fo in the French. The late Mr. Pownall, in his humour of ever Frenchifying his English, was the first who used fepulture for fepulchre in English; and it has now been taken up by one whofe name might give it a currency, if not oppofed. The difcovery made at Ashby Puerorum, was a cheft of stone containing an urn of glass. "The cheft is of free-ftone, fuch as is found in abundance on Lincoln Heath; the urn is made of ftrong glass well manufactured, greenish, but not more fo than green window-glafs ufually is. When found, it was perfect in all refpects, and had not fuffered any of that decay, which generally renders the furface of Roman glafs of a pearly or opaline hue; for the furface was as fmooth and as firm, as if it had newly come from the fire.-P. 96. The circumstances attending this fepulture, clearly prove it to have been Roman.-As no people have Thewn more atte in chufing agreeable fpots for the fituation of their villas, than the Romans have done; it is far from improbable, that the fite of an ancient Roman villa will fome time be discovered, not far from the field where this fepulture was found." P. 98. "No. XI. Short Notices relating to the Parish of Lanvetherine in Monmouthshire, communicated by the Rev. Mr. * Archæologia, x, 345, &c. Wrighte, Wrighte, Secretary," however fhort in themselves, are in reality too long. "Lanvetherine," they fay, " is an obfeure village; it takes its name from the patron St. Veterinus, to whom the church is dedicated. The church is not very ancient; and the only thing remarkable about it, is a large fquare ftone placed against the fouth wall of the chancel, wherein is rudely cut the effigy of a faint in a long gown and hat," like a modern divine," infcribed, in Roman characters, S. VETERINUS." ་་ So plainly is this a modern effigy of an ancient faint, "the patron St. Veterinus, to whom the church is dedicated," as the unknown author himself has declared just above! Yet he instantly leaps away from this declaration, and lofes himself in imperfect learning. The Veterani," he fays, "or Vavaffores, it is well known, were feudal vaffals of greater and inferior rank." Where he found his Veterani as feudal vaffals, we cannot even pretend to conjecture. But having thus obtained a conductor, the electrical fire runs off with it to Vavaffores, Du Cange, and Bracton. With all this in fparks of illumination about his head, the author draws his conclufion thus: " By Veterinus," he triumphantly argues, "may therefore be meant fome great feudal baron, the founder of the church, to whom it was dedicated"-by the founder. Yet this abfurdity the author forefaw, and therefore has his church dedicated to him, "as having bequeathed money for the building and endowment of it," as therefore dead, and fainted affuredly for his bequest after death. What a happy mode of multiplying faints is this! Yet, as the author remarks, with fome apparent feeling about this attributed faint fhip, "neither does there feem any thing very extraordinary in this." His reason is thus given. "Churches were always dedicated to God, and not to Saints, Martyrs, or Founders, though fometimes diftinguished by their names for a memorial of them." The author diftinguishes between founders and faints, but forgets to distinguish between founders pofthumous and living. "The naming of a church," fays Mr. Bingham, " by the name of a Saint or Martyr, was far from dedicating it to the Saint or Martyr." Even if this be true, it cannot avail the arguer; as he has already noticed "the patron Saint Veterinus, to whom the church is dedicated." It is indeed all taken from the cited Bingham, with the term founders interpolated by this writer. Yet, as he proceeds with Bingham, "this is further evident from this confideration, that churches were fometimes named |