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you may then conceive the anxiety I knew. Good heaven! to what lengths may we be carried by paffion thus inflamed! it made me, who, in the tenor of my life, have no other crimes to accufe myself of than fuch as human frailty is feldom free from, a villain. If you have a degree of patience beyond the rest of mankind, fummon it to hear that I was the curfed cause of your misfortunes; that by my means your barns were burnt, and you and Sylvia reduced to poverty. Can you now pardon the man who has thus injured you? You muft, you shall forgive; you will not deny me that, which withheld, would bitter my last moments, and give me greater pain than any thing befides on this fide the grave."

Palemon, who was greatly moved at what he heard, teld him that he forgave him every injury, and would never recolle& him as a man whom he had reason to diflike. "You are too, too good, he replied; why did I make fo deferving a man wretched? But I knew not your virtuesHere is my will, I have no family whom I can injure by repairing an injury, and have therefore here made you my heir: this is the only method by which I can palliate my crime. May you be blessed by this addition to your fortune; but that with is needless to the man who was fo in poverty. The world will naturally enquire into the reafons of my conduct with respect to you, and perhaps, for want of knowing the truth, will explain it to the difad

A Short DESCRIPTION of the THE city of Florence lies in a fruitful valley on the river Arno, in forty-three degrees forty mi July, 1764.

vantage of your honour, Concea! not then the real inducement; conceal not then from mankind the greatest error of my life, but tell them at the fame time, that it fprung from the infligation of jealoufy; and not to blame too feverely, 'till they have left, like me, difappointment in their fondeft hopes."

They parted in the tendereft manner imaginable, and the unhappy man foon after died with the moft perfect ferenity and calmnefs. Palemon haftened to his Sylvia; he found her employed in preparing for his return. She welcomed him with a look more expreffive of joy than language can be, and enquired into the bufinefs which occafioned his abfence. He explained to her the whole affair; he clafped her to his breaft, and together they offered thanks to Providence, which had made their calamities the occafion of happier fortune than they could ever have otherways expected. The morn no longer divides them from each other; they live as happy as the conditions of humanity can permit, and have this only to implore, that they may never be long divided, but like two lamps which have long burnt together, they may burn' together out.

Whenever they relate the ftory of their lives, they never omit to inforce this truth, that refignation to the will of heaven can foften adversity, and that relief is often nearest when we least exped it.

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and an hundred and twenty north of Rome; in a moft defirable fituation, encompaffed with beautiful hills on three fides, full of villages, country-feats, gardens, groves and woods of olives riting gradually, till they join the highest mountains of the Apennine and towards the weft, lies that rich valley watered by the river Arno, which extends as far as Pifa, abounding in corn, wine, and oil, and all manner of delicious fruits. The town is of a round form, about fix miles in circumference, encompaffed with walls and other fortifications, and defended by three citadels. The river Arno divides it in two parts, which have a communication by four bridges, of which two, the old and the new, are admired for their structure. The ftreets are ftrait and well paved, in imitation of the old Roman highways, with great flat ftones, larger than our common pavement-ftones, but much thicker, which are fo hollowed in their joinings, that the horfes find fastening for their feet. There are a great many ftatues and fountains in the ftreets, and we meet with agreeable objects, which way foever we turn our eyes. Their private buildings are tall and fair, their palaces numerous and exquifitely contrived, their churches but little inferior to thofe of Rome, and there are no less than feventeen fpacious fquares; infomuch that this city has obtained the title of Florence the Fair, which all travellers agree it well deferves. In two things only they think it defective; the firit, that they have no glass in their windows, but their finest palaces are often difgraced with tattered paper; and in the fecond place, the streets and courts in their palaces, are too narrow for the loftinefs of their build

ings; which are objections made to many other towns of Italy; and the only anfwer we meet with is, that neither glass nor wide ftreets are convenient in fo warm a climate: as it is, one fide of the streets always catis a fhade upon the cther; and by their paper windows, they avoid the fcorching heat of the fun, whofe rays would be contracted and heightened by the crown glass used here, as by a burning-glass.

The town is fuppofed to contain eight thousand houses, which at seven to a houfe, makes the number of inhabitants to amount to fifty fix thoufand; an hundred and fifty collegiate and parochial churches, ninety monafteries and nanneries, two and twenty hofpitals, of which that for orphans maintains nine hundred perfons; eighteen halls belonging to merchants and tradefinen, and an hundred and fixty publick statues, befides what are found in palaces.

The principal trade of this city, befides wine, oil, fruits, and other produce of the country, confifts in wrought filks, gold and filver ftuffs, and fome fay they have a woollen manufacture: (but this last must be inconfiderable.) The nobility and gentry do not think it beneath them to apply themselves to trade; and the Great Duke himself is faid to be one of the moft confiderable merchants in Europe: nay, the gentry fell their own wines by retale out of doors, though not in their honfes, and even hang out a broken flask for a fign at their court-gates. Their cuftomers come no further than the cellar-window however, where they take and return the flasks to the butler, without disturbing the house: at the fame time they look upon it as a great difparagement, to educate

their children in the profeffion of phyfick: fo various are the notions of honour in different countries, phyfick being efteemed with us one of the most creditable profeffions, and on the contrary, a retale trade of liquors the moft ignominious.

N. B. We have omitted entering into a minute defcription of the Great

Duke's palace, the famous gallery, the cathedral, &c. as we purpose embellishing fome future Numbers of our Magazine, with elegant views and circumftantial defcriptions of the principal and most curious buildings with which this famous city abounds.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

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E are informed from Rome, that a new defcription of the Vatican is publishing in that city; the first volume of which has already appeared, and contains an account of the Bafilick of St. Peter, of the various principles, rules, and orders, of architecture, that are obferved in that fublime and majeftick fructure; and a circumftantial defcription of the paintings and ftatues with which it is adorned, There is in this first volume a particular account of the famous dome or cupola of that noble edifice, which fome years ago leaned on one fide, and feemed almoft ready to fall. This defect, which has been well repaired, was confidered, by fome, as owing to the void space occafioned by the ftair cafes made by the chevalier Bernini in the great pilafters that fupport the dome. But it has been emonftrated, that the preffure of the cupola against its counterforts has been the only occafion of the defect in question. There are three learned differtations published on this fubject by the fathers Jacquier, La Sueur, and Bofcovich, who may be justly reckoned among the most eminent mathematicians of this age.

They write from Venice, that a very important difcovery hath been

lately made at Udine, the capital of Friuli, a province of that republic, concerning the cure of the hydrophobia by means of vinegar. This difcovery is faid to have been made by accident. A poor man, lying under the frightful tortures of the hydrophobia, was cured with fome draughts of vinegar given him by miftake inftead of another potion. A phyfician of Padua, called Count Leonifia, got intelligence of this event at Udine, and tried the fame remedy upon a patient that was brought to the Padgan hofpital, adminiftering him a pound of vinegar in the morning, another at noon, and a third at fun-fet; and the man was fpeedily and perfectly cured.

There is in the prefs at Rome, a new treatife on mufick, written by the celebrated Tartini; in which he maintains, that the prefection of mufic depends upon a thorough knowledge of diatonicks; which have not been explained in any treatife on mufic, either ancient or modern: and that the imperfection of modern mufic is owing to the mystery the Greeks made of the diatonic science, which was their invention. M. Tartini thinks he has unfolded this mystery. His treatise is learned and ingenious; it con3 Cz

tains

tains feveral new ideas that may
contribute much to the perfection
of harmony, and that throw a re-
markable light on the mufic of thecretary to the academy.
antient Greeks.

question may be in Latin, French,
or German; and they are to be ad-
dreffed to M. Lamey, perpetual fe-

The Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres lately erected at Manheim, propofes the following queftion for the year 1764; What was the origin of the Comes Palatinus under the Roman emperors? And what was his office and condition under the Merovingian and Carlian kings until the divifion of the French monarchy into east and weft? And at what time were' the domains of the crown affixed to that dignity? The defire of examining into the history and natural productions of the palatinate feems indeed to have determined the elector to this establishment. The object of the academy is civil and natural hiftory in general, with every thing that has relation thereto; the number of the academicians is limited to fifteen, of which there are a prefident, a perpetual fecretary, a treafurer, and an under fecretary. By the ftatutes of the academy, the Latin language has the preference of all others, without, however, excluding them; Princeps Latina, Germanica & Gallica fubfidiarie Junto. The prize to be diftributed annually is a gold medal of fifty ducats.

The differtations relative to this

The celebrated work of the late abbé Venuti, comprehending a defcription of Rome; as alfo the longexpected edition of Corneille, by Mr. Voltaire, are just imported.

Letters from Switzerland affure us, that the ingenious Mr. Gefner, whofe genius for paftoral poetry is juftly celebrated, has pubiifhed a new Poem upon the Origin of Navigation, in three Cantos. The fable that ferves as the ground work of this new production, is remarkable for its fimplicity, and furnishes, at the fame time, the most affecting fcenes that can well be imagined. A variety of rural landscapes compofed with the most elegant tafte, and finished with the richest colouring, embellish this fweet and pathetick poem. These letters add, that neither age nor infirmity can damp the fpirit, nor arreft the pen of the indefatigable Voltaire. Three new productions of this ingenious writer are handed about there in manufcript, and will undoubtedly appear foon in print. The first treats concerning the Origin of Trades, the second of the Education of a Prince, and the third is intitled Les trois Manieres a Zalais.

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Cleanthes and Semanthe. A Dramatic Hiftory. By the Author of Leonora. 2 vols. 12mo. Pr. 6s. Davis.

Superior to the common run of novels.

The Budget, 4to. Pr. 18. Almon.

It would be imprudent in us to decide upon the merits of this pamphlet, which will be viewed in a favourable or unfavourable light, as the reader is prejudiced for or against the party whose cause it espouses.

The Wallet, &c. 4to. Pr. 1s. 6d. Williams and Vernor.

A fpirited answer to the preceding pamphlet.

The Oxford Saufage, 12mo. Pr. 2s. Fletcher.

Not badly feafoned, upon the whole; though the ingredients are rather stale.

Dr. Leland's Differtations on the Principles of Eloquence, &c. 4to. Pr. 5s. Fletcher. Learned, fenfible, and ingenious. With refpect to the controverfy between our Author and the bishop of Gloucester,

Non eft inter nos tantas componere lites. The Farewell. A Poem. By C. Churchill. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d. Kearsley.

Eheu! Quantum mutatus ab illo !

The Cap and Staff, &c. 4to. Pr. 2s. 6d.

Gibfon.

Superior to the Farewell.

Adventures of Charles Carelefs, Efq; 2 vols. 12mo. Pr. 6s. Fletcher.

The incidents which compofe the narrative of this gentleman's life are trite and

defpicable, and the plan altogether is incon

fiftent and abfurd.

The Hiftory of Mifs Oakley, 8vo. 2s. Bladon. Pleafing, harmless, and not uninteresting. Hervey's Meditations and Contemplations, attempted in Blank Verfe, after the manner of Dr. Young, by T. Newcombe, M. A. 12mo. 2 vols. 55. Davis and Reymers. Poetical and harmonious.

The Nun: an Elegy. 4to. 6d. Dodfley.
Tender, elegant, and pathetic.

An Epithalamium on the Marriage of Lord
Warkworth to Lady Anne Stuart. 4to. 15.
Marsh.

Fulfome and indelicate.

Mifs Whateley's Poems, 8vo. 4s. Dodley. Harmlefs and amufing, with no inconfiderable share of poetical merit.

Ejay on Gratitude. By Dr. Watkinfon. 8vo. Pr. Is. Baldwin.

Pious, learned, and fenfible.

A General Hiftory of the World, &c. Vols. 1. and II. Pr. 5s. each. Baldwin. These two volumes feem to be compiled with care, neatnefs, and perfpicuity.

Entick's general Hiftory of the late War. 5 vols. 8vo. Pr. 11. 5s. Dilly.

A literal compilation from news-papers and political pamphlets. Very tame and very frigid.

The Life of William the Conqueror. By A. Henderson, 12mo. Pr. 1s. 6d. Henderfon.

A ftupid injudicious compilation.

Our

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The unavoidable Length to which feveral of our Articles in this Number kave extended, bas prevented us from presenting our Readers with so great a Variety as ufual, and obliged us to poftpone several valuable Articles. We flatter ourselves, however, we fhall be able to fatisfy all Correfpondents next Month. We are forry we can't oblige A. B. but bis Verfes are too perfonal to gain admittance in our Magazine. Nevertheless, we assure bim we shall always thankfully receive any Pieces of general Entertainment or Information with which be fhall think proper to favour us. ------ ·The Subject of S. B's Letter is too abftrufe to afford any Amusement to the Generality of our Readers.

Poetical

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