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conveys the following lines to herself under a neceflity of pursuing Clelia.

"My charming CLELIA, "Though I yet love you to diftraction, I cannot but fufpe&t that you have granted favours to your confeffor, which you might, with greater innocence, have granted to Leander. All I have to add is this, that amorous intercourfes of this nature, which you have enjoyed with friar Laurence, put you under the like neceffity with him of fecking a remedy in the ocean.

"Adieu! LEANDER!"

. Imagine Clelia guilty, and then imagine her confufion. To rail was infignificant, and to blame her phyfician was abfurd, when the found

his advice. The whole fociety was made acquainted with the journey fhe was undertaking, and the caufes of it. It were uncharitable to fuppofe the whole community, under the fame conftraint with the unhappy Clelia. Howeyer, the greater part thought it decent to attend her. Some went as her companions, fome for exercife, fome for amusement, and the abbefs herself as guardian of her train, and concerned in her fociety's misfortunes.

What ufe Leander made of his difcovery is not known. Perhaps when he had been fuccessful in ba nifhing the hypocrite, he did not fhew himself very follicitous in his endeavours to reform the finner.

DESCRIPTION of the CHURCH of ST. PETER's at Rome.

THIS

HIS noble and magnificent ftructure, which for the harmony of its architecture, finepefs and great variety of carved and gilt work; pictures, ftatues, &c. may juftly claim the pre-eminence over all other buildings of the fame kind in the world, ftands on the fite of Caligula's Circus, and was firft dedicated by Conftantine the Great, to the Twelve Apostles; but in 1550 it was entirely rebuilt for pope Julius II. began it on Bramante Lazari's plan; his fucceffor Paul III. continued it on that of Michael Angelo, and it was finished under the papacy of Julius V. fo that it was the work of one hundred years, and coft forty millions of crowns in building, befides the daily repairs and decorations that are making to it. Bramante made the first defign; May 1754.

his model is now in the Vatican palace: it is fo large, that a perfon may enter into feveral parts of it, After his death, the defign was altered by Raphael Urbin, Sangallo, and others; it was brought to the form of the Greek crofs by Michael Angelo, prolonged afterwards to the form of the Latin cross by the Chevalier Fontana, Carlo Maderna, and others, who ftill continued the order of M. Angelo. The church itfelfis722 feet long, and 86 broad; the breadth of the front is 400 feet, and the whole height from the floor to the top of the crofs that ftands over the ball is 432 feet. By the print we have annexed, it is eafy to be seen after what manner it is built; and that, for its general form, our St. Paul's agrees pretty much with it. Indeed, it were to be wifhed, that our's had

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fuch an approach as that has, than which nothing can be more grand or magnificent.

Before the church is a magnificent and fpacious Piazza, in the middle of which stands an obelisk of granate or black marble, brought from Egypt, and reared at an immenfe expence in the papacy of Sixtus V. by Domenico Fontana. It is 80 feet high, and ftands on a pedestal of thirty more, and on the top is a brafs gilt cross.

The upper end of the church ftands to the weft. There is no feparation of that part for a choir, as is in St. Paul's, and other Cathedrals among us. A fide chapel is appropriated to that purpose there; fo that at first entrance there is a fpacious open view, continued quite to the further end of the church; where, aloft, againft the wall, is placed the chair of St. Peter, fupported by the four doctors of the Latin church, St. Jerom, St. Auguftin, St. Ambrofe, and St. Gregory; and a glory above, with Angels, &c. all of copper, a moft coftly and noble ornament. But the real chair of St. Peter is pretended to be within that expofed to public view. The ornaments of this chair alone are faid to have coft 107,551 Roman crowns, at 5s. and 6d. value each,

The pavilion of the great altar, which ftands under the cupola, is accounted the finest ornament in the whole work: there is fomething in it very uncommon and very magnificent. It is fupported by four wreathed pillars of Corinthian brafs, which was taken by pope Urban VIII. from off the Portico of the Pantheon; they are adorned with feftoons and foliage of the fame me.

5

tal, difpofed in a very agreeable manner. They fay that under this altar are depofited half the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul, and that the other half of them is elsewhere; either at the old church of St. Paul without the city, or that of St. John Lateran. Upwards of a hundred lamps are continually burning before this depofitum, which is encompaffed with a marble balustrade.

The great cupola is all wrought in Mofaic, as are the four Angels immediately under it. Within the cupola itself are the twelve Apostles in feveral compartiments, which fill the first great circle that goes round the cupola: above them Angels in the fame manner; and at the top of a lantern which rifes above the cupola, is reprefented the Deity, as an old man with his arms extended, performed in Mofaic alfo. In the four angles under, are reprefented the four Evangelifts. The fide cupolas are alfo wrought in Mofaic: the church itself is incrufted with marble.

It would be endless to enter into particulars of the ftatues, paintings, Mofaics, and baffo-relievos, which every part of it abounds with, together with the noble fepulchral monuments of several popes, and that of Chriftina queen of Sweden; all adorned with curious fculpture. The body of that queen, however, is depofited within a plain tomb in a grotta, under the church, though her monument be above.

There is one thing very remark able among the baffo relievoes on the brazen gates, at the entrance. There are fome figures of heathen ftory intermixed with the foliage: Ganymede and the Eagle, Jupiter and Leda, &c. Perhaps thefe have

been

been taken from fome heathen temple; certain it is, that they would have been more suitable there.

The illumination on the outfide of this church, on the eve of St. Peter, is a glorious fight; they place the lights in fuch a manner, all along the feveral members of the architecture on the outside, and make them fo to conform with them, that the whole has, at a diftance, the appearance of a perfect temple on fire.

In the fubterraneous church are feveral beautiful chapels, finely adorned with marble, &c. The whole is low, and has not fo fpacious a look as that under our St. Paul's. Here are fixed up in the walls, and feveral other places, feveral orna

ments of the old church, Mosaics, baffo relievoes, old ftatues, &c. the real tombs of popes, and other great perfons, whofe honorary ones are above.

To conclude: the ornaments in this magnificent edifice are fo many, and fo curious, they strike the mind of the fpectator with fuch amazement at first entrance, and the eye is fo called off from one beauty to another, that it is fome time before it can fix upon any in particular. Every time one view's it, fresh beauties prefent themfelves; and the entertainment one meets with there, is fo far from producing fatiety, that the pleasure ftill increafes upon every view of this noble pile.

A furprising Account of the fudden Effect of Fear in a Deferter. Gorge Grochantzy, a Polander,

who had inlifted as a foldier in the fervice of the king of Pruflia, deferted during the laft war; a fmall party was fent in pursuit of him, and when he least expected it, they furprised him finging and dancing among a company of peasants, who were got together in an inn, and were making merry. This event, fo fudden and unforeseen, and at the fame time fo dreadful in its confequences, ftruck him in fuch a man ner, that, giving a great cry, he became at once altogether ftupid and infenfible, and was feized without the leaft refiftance.

They carried him away to Glocau, where he was brought before the council of war, and received fentence as a deferter: he suffered himself to be had and difpofed of at the will of thofe about him, without uttering a word, or giving the leaft fign that

he knew what had happened to him;

he remained immoveable as a ftatue wherever he was placed, and was wholly paffive with refpect to all that was done to him or about him; during all the time that he was in cuftody, he neither eat, nor drank, nor flept, nor had any evacuation; fome of his comrades were sent to fee him; after that he was visited by fome officers of his corps, and by fome priests, but he ftill continued in the fame state, without discovering the leaft figns of fenfibility. Promifes, entreaties, and threatenings, were equally ineffectual; the phyficians who were confulted upon this cafe were of opinion, that he was in a state of hopeless idiotcy. It was at first fufpected that these appearances were feigned, but these fufpicions neceffarily gave way, when it was known that he took no fuftenance, and that the involun

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tary functions of nature were in a great measure fufpended.

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days in this condition, without eating, drinking, or any evacuation, and died on the 20th day; he had been fometimes heard to fetch deep fighs, and once he rushed with great violence on a foldier, who had a mug of liquor in his hand, forced the mug from him, and having drank the liquor with great eager nefs, let the mug drop to the ground.

After fome time they knocked off
his fetters, and left him at liberty to
go whither he would; he received his
liberty with the fame in fenfibility that
he had thewed upon other occafions;
he remained fixed and immoveable,
his eyes turned wildly here and
there without taking cognizance of
any object, and the mufcles of his
face were fallen and fixed like thofe
of a dead body.
Being left to himfelf, he paffed zo in Germany.

I

GENTLEMEN,

The fingularity of this cafe has been the fubject of much speculation

To the Authors of the BRITISH MAGAZINE.

Am a conftant reader of your productions, and have conceived fuch an opinion of your regard for the poor women, that I am refolved to trouble you with an account of my fituation, especially as it is poffible that feveral of my fex are labouring under the fame anxieties, and that this letter may be productive of fome happy confequences to them, however it may fail in being any way advantageous to me.

You must know, Gentlemen, that about three years ago, I was married to a man of diftinguished underftanding, as well as confiderable fortune; and therefore looked upon by all my friends to be very happily fettled for life. My husband's known good fenfe, and the affluence of his circumstances were confidered by every body, as indubitable fecu rities for my felicity, and there was fcarcely a young lady of my acquaintance who did not envy me fo

favourable a match.

I had not however been married above a month, before I found myself treated with a palpable indiffer

ence, and cut off from all thofe rational enjoyments which I flattered myfelf with poffeffing in the continual fociety of fo fenfible a husband.

Inftead of entertaining me as he was formerly accuftomed, with inftructive relations of men and things, he grew filent and referved, and inftead of the continual vivacity with which his looks had before been animated, nothing now appeared upon his brow but a fettled air of the most perfect difregard, or a fupercilious fmile of contempt. I was for a long time at a lofs to account for fo furpiling an alteration of temper, and you may be fure, as I paffionately loved Mr. Highmore, fuch a change muft have given me many an uneafy moment, particularly as I ftudied, with all poffible care, to keep my anxiety concealed.-'Twas a mortifying circumftance if I afked a tender queftion, to be anfwered with a blunt yes, or no; to be told I teized him, if I enquired after his health, and have my hand toft away with an ill-natured 'pfhaw, if I prefumed to take hold of his, or at

tempted

tempted to regulate any little article of his drefs. At laft, Gentlemen, the mystery was unravelled, I overheard him one day talking to an intimate friend of his about the follies of the fair fex, declaring, that the very best were a moft contemptible pack of creatures, much below the notice of a man of understanding; "for my part (says he) I fuppofe myfelf as happily married as any body of my acquaintance, but ftill a wife is no more than a woman; and as fuch, tho' a neceffary animal, fhe is confequently below the regard of a man of common fpeculation."

Having thus difcovered the occafion of Mr. Highmore's indifference, I refolved to render myfelf as worthy of his attention as I could, by converfing on the moft important fubjects I was able: for this purpofe I would occafionally cite a paflage from our celebrated writers, and deliver my opinion on hiftorical events, poetical compofition, and fuch other parts of literature as I thought would be moft agreeable to the temper I faw him in. But alas, instead of finding his humour abated by this folicitude to pleafe, I had the misfortune to fee it visibly encreased: If I quoted a paffage from any author, he fmiled; -If I pretended to judge, he tittered-But if I was infolent enough to differ from the minuteft opinion of his, he either flew out of the house, or politely laughed in my face. Every cafual impropriety of accent he was fure to ridicule, and thofe little grammatical inaccuracies which women cannot always avoid, were an everlasting subject of contempt.Palling in my endeavours here, I attempted to engage him in a variety of amufements, but in vain. If I propofed the play-women only diverted his attention from the bufinefs of the performance ;-If I pro

pofed a walk in the park-women truly were pretty companions to dangle with in public:-If I mentioned a game at cards, fools only had recourfe to diverfions of that kind.-In fhort, let me ftart what I would, either the meannefs of my understanding, or the greatnefs of his own, was fure of defeating all my views, and nothing was happy enough to merit his approbation but what immediately proceeded from himself. -For this laft twelvemonth, Mr. Highmore has commenced bon vivant, and fat till three or four o'clock every morning with a felect party of friends, who are eminent in the world for their literary abilities. As it is a fundamental principle with thefe extraordinary gentlemen, never to part, while they are able to fit together, irregularity and intemperance have fo impaired the conftitution of my poor Mr. Highmore, that I am terrified to death at the bare fuppofition of the confequences.-His employment all day is to recover from the exceffes of the preceding evening, and his bufinefs all night to provide an indifpofition for the next day.

For God's fake, Gentlemen, fay fomething about thofe men of fenfe who look upon women to be idiots, and yet are guilty of actions that would make the meanest of us afhamed.-Is this fuperiority of underftanding, upon which the generality of your fex fo highly pique themfelves, to be pleaded as an eternal excufe for indifcretions and errors, and no allowance to be made for the little failings of the poor women, tho we are treated continually as fools?

I could fay a great deal on this fubje&t, but fearing to trefpafs too much upon your leisure, I fhall take my leave, And am, your's, &c. A. HIGHMORE.

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