neceffary, indeed, that he fhould be equipped in the proper garb of a pilgrim; but not being in a condition to purchase one, though it confifted only of a long ftaff handfomely turned, and a fhort leathern or oil cloth cloak, he betook himself to the following ftratagem. In a chapel dedicated to a miraculous faint, he had obferved that fuch an one had been fet up there as a monument of gratitude by fome wandering pilgrim come to the end of his journey, and though this chapel was never without a number of devotees, who prayed and burnt tapers before the image of the faint, he was not deterred from venturing in, and taking both ftaff and cloak away at noon-day he escaped without any enquiry after him, carried off the booty unmolested, made hafte to a private corner, threw the cloak a bout his thoulders, and stalked, in all fan&tified gravity, with the ftaff in his hand, till he was got out of the city: " Being thus accoutred (fays he) and furnished with a proper país, I began, at all proper places, to beg my way in a fluent latin, accofting only clergymen, or perfons of figure, by whom I could be understood, and found them moftly fo generous and credulous, that I might eafily have faved money, and put myself into a much better drefs before I had gone through a fcore or two of miles; but fo powerful was my vanity and extravagance, that as foon as I had got what I thought a fufficient viaticum, I begged no more, but viewed every thing worth feeing, and then retired to fome inn, where I spent my money as freely as I had obtained it." He tells us, that he frequently met with objects that made him fhrink. In lonely places the carcaffes of men rotting and ftinking, by the way fide, fastened with ropes round their necks to pofts: these were disbanded foldiers and failors, who used, after the peace of Ryfwick, to infeft the roads, and were, in confequence, hung up in fcores at a time, and their bodies thus exposed in terrorem. At other places were to be met with small croffes with infcriptions, “ Pray for the foul of A. B. that was found murdered on the fpot." At the age of fixteen, when he was in Germany, he fell upon the wild project of paffing for a Formofan. He recollected, that he had heard the Jefuits fpeak much of China and Japan, and was rash enough to think, that what he wanted of a right knowledge, he might make up by the ftrength of a pregnant invention, which here, it must be confeffed, found ample scope to work in. He fet himself to form a new character and language, a grammar, a divifion of the year into twenty months, a new religion, and what not! His alphabet was written from right to left, like the oriental tongues; and he foon enured his hand to write it with great readiness. He now thought himself fufficiently prepared to pass for a Japanese converted to chriftianity: he altered his Avignon certificate as artfully as he could, re-affumed his old pilgrim's habit, and began his tour, though with a heavy heart, to the Low Countries. Under the notion of a Japanese converted by fome jefuit miffionaries, and brought to Avignon to be farther inftructed by them, as well as to avoid the dreadful punishment inflicted on converts by the emperor of Japan, he travelled feven bundred leagues, with an appearance, how. vent zeal to make a convert of him, by way of recommending, as it af terwards turned out, himself to the then bishop of London, whofe piety could not fail of rewarding fo worthy an action. By this time Pfalmanazar, growing tired of the foldier's life, liftened cordially to the chaplain's propofal of taking him over to England, and he was accordingly, with great hafte, baptized. however, fo difimal, and fhabby, as length, ended in our chaplain's ferto exceed even the very common beggars. His affairs now grew from bad to worie: want forely pinched him, and an inveterate itch added to all his other misfortunes. This, however, he rather looked upon as a merciful difpenfation; inafmuch as it proved the means of preferving him from the bafe defigns of certain procureffes, who, wandering about the treets of Brabant and Flanders, pick up likely youths, in order to make a lewd trade of them. Pfalmanazar, very young, fanguine, and agreeable, was fometimes led by them in a feeming hofpitable manner to certain charitable ladies, to receive, as was pretended, fome tokens of their generofity; but in reality, that he might return a lefs commendable one to the benefactrefs but my diftemper, fays he, proved too difguftful a bar for me ever to be put to the trial.. At Liege he inlifted into the Dutch fervice, and was carried by his officer to Aix-la Chapelle. He afterwards entered into the elector of Cologne's fervice; but the debauched lives of his comrades, in the foldiery, extinguishing completely the faint traces of religion, and being ftill ambitious as ever to pass for a Japanese, he now chofe to profess himself an unconverted or heathenifh one, rather than what he had hitherto pretended to be, a convert to chriftianity; and freely entered the lifts against priefts and monks, who were affiduoufly and publickly endeavouring to convince him of his fuppofed errors. The laft garrison he came to was Sluys, where brigadier Lauder, a Scotch colonel, introduced him to the chaplain, with whom he was admitted to have a conference, and which, at A charitable defign of converting a foul did not appear to be the ru ling motive to this piece of folemn mockery; for he was fo far from believing our young impoftor to be what he pretended, that he had just before taken the most effectual methods to convince himself of the contrary, beyond all poffibility of doubting. A letter of invitation from the bishop of London arriving, they fet out for Rotterdam, were introduced there to the celebrated Mr. Bafnage, and the English and French Proteftant churches. Pfalmanazar was, in general, much careffed there; but fome there were, that put foch fhrewd quellions to him, as carried the air of not giving all that credit which he could have wifhed. This threw him upon a whimfical expedient, by way of removing all obftacles, viz. that of living upon raw flesh, roots and herbs; and he foon habituated himfelf, he tells us, to this new and ftrange food, without receiving the leaft prejudice to his health; taking care to add a good deal of pepper and fpices by the way of concocter, whilft the people's aftonishment at his diet ferved him for fauce of no contemptible relish. At his arrival in London he was introduced to our good bithop, was received with great humanity, and 4 K 2 foon foon found a large circle of friends among the well-difpofed both of clergy and laity. "But (fays he) "But (fays he) I had a much greater number of oppofers to combat with, who, though they judged rightly of me in the main, were far from being candid in their account of the difcovery they pretended to make to my difadvantage; particularly doctors Halley, Mead, and Woodward. The too vifible eagerness of these gentlemen to expofe me at any rate for a cheat, ferved only to make others think the better of me, and even to look upon me as a kind of confeffor; especially as thofe gentlemen were thought to be no great admirers of revelation, to which my patrons thought I had given fo ample a teftimony." His complexion, which happened to be very fair, was an unanfwerable objection against his being of Formofa, which lies under the tropic: but he foon hatched a lucky diftinction between thofe whofe bufinefs expofes them to the fun, and those who keep at home, or under ground, without feeling the leaft degree of the reigning heat. On the other hand, his oppofers were as much at a lofs to find out his real country by his pronunciation of any of the languages he was matter of. Dr. Mead took upon him to be very pofitive that he was of German or Dutch extract; "but he might as well, fays Pfalmanazar, have affirmed me to have been an Ethiopian from my complexion, as a German from my pronunciation." As to his moral character, fcandalous falfehoods were foon difperfed abroad, and crimes imputed to him that he was naturally averfe to. On the other hand, the exact care he took of his behaviour and converfation, the plainnefs of his dress and diet, the little trouble he gave himself about wealth and preferment, and his refervedness to the fair fex; the warmth he expreffed for religion, and the delight he was obferved to take in the public offices of it, were, to his friends, convincing proofs of his fincerity. A variety of judgements were formed, even among those who thought him a cheat. Thofe of the church of Rome believed he was bribed to the impofture by fome English minifters, to expofe their church: the Proteftants in Holland thought he was hired to explode predeftination, and to cry up the epifcopacy of England, in derogation of the presbyterian government: fome reprefented him as a jefuit in difguife, others as a tool of the nonjurors, among whom he had been introduced by his old friend the chaplain, who, by way of advancing his own fortune, introduced him alfo to all the great men in church and state. Before he had been three months in London, he was cried up for a prodigy, every body was defirous of feeing him, to which the public prints, foreign as well as domestic, afhifted, by blazing forth things in his praife, for which there was not the leaft foundation. He was prefently fet to tranflate the church catechifm into the Formofan language; it was received by the bifhop of London with candour, the author rewarded with generofity, and his cathechifm laid up ameong the moft curious manufcripts. It was examined by the learned, they found it regular and grammatical, and gave it as their opinion, that it was a real language and no counterfeit. After fuch fuccefs, our au thor was foon prevailed upon to write the well known hiftory of Formofa, which foon after appeared. A tafk fo arduous and dangerous did not ftartle our young adventurer; though scarce twenty years old, and an entire stranger to these countries, he undertook it without hefitation. The bookfellers were fo earnest with him to dispatch it, whilft the town was hot in expectation of it, that he was fcarcely allowed two months to write the whole, notwithstanding the almoft conftant avocations from vifitors at home, and invitations abroad. The first edition had not been long pub. lifhed before a fecond was called for. In the interim, he was fent by the good bishop to Oxford to purfue fuch ftudies as he was moft inclined to, whilft his oppofers and advocates in London were difputing about the merits and demerits of his book. The learned at Oxford were not lefs divided in their opinions of our author. A convenient apartment was, however, affigned him in one of the colleges: he had all the advantages of learning the univerfity could afford him, and a learned tutor to affift him. Here, to make a fhow of retrieving the time wafted abroad in the day-time in company, he used to light his candle, and let it burn the greatest part of the night in his ftudy, that his neighbours might believe he was plying his books; and, fleeping in his eafy chair, would often leave the bed for a whole week just as he found it, to the great furprife of his bed-maker. He pretended foon to have fwelled legs, which his friends failed not to account for, kindly intreating him to fubmit to more regular hours of reft; but he continued to go limping about like a gouty old fellow, though no one enjoyed a better fhare of health, or flow of fpirits. Upon his return to London, he continued, for about ten years, to indulge a courfe of idleness and extravagance, with fome fort of gallantry with the ladies, among whom (fome perfons of fortune and character) he became a great favourite. During this time, a fcheme was propofed to him, which he was to father, of getting money by a white. fort of japan, the art of which was fuppofed to be brought by him from Formofa. But this, and feveral others, proved of short duration. The behaviour of his friends, and the obje&tions they now began to make, put our adventurer upon thinking that they had a lefs charitable opinion of him than formerly, and that it was time to think of getting into fome reputable employ, before the fubfcriptions, which the benevolent had long afforded him, fhould be withdrawn. Some abfurdities, however, obferved in his hiftory of For. mofa, in the end effectually difcredited the whole relation, and saved him the trouble, and his friends the mortification, of on open confeffion of his guilt. He feemed, through a long courfe of life, to abhor the impofture, yet contented himself with owning it to his moft intimate friends. Mr. Pfalmanazar's learning and ingenuity, during the remainder of his life, did not fail to procure him a comfortable fubfiftence from his pen: he was concerned in compiling and writing works of credit, and lived exemplarily for many years. His death happened in 1763. In his laft will and teftament, dated Jan. 1. 1762, he declares that he had long fince difclaimed, even publickly, all but the fhame and guilt of of his vile impofitions; and orders his body to be buried, wherever he happens to die, in the day-time, and in the lowest and cheapest manner. "It is my earnest request, fays he, that my body be not inclofed in any kind of coffin, but only decently laid in what is commonly called a fhell of the lowest value, and without lid or other covering, which may hinder the natural earth from covering it all a round." IT T has been remarked, that men are generally kind in proportion as they are happy; and it is faid even of the devil, that he is good humoured when he is pleafed. Every act therefore by which another is in jured, from whatever motive, contracs more guilt, and expreffes greater malignity, if it is committed in thofe feasons which are fet apart to pleafintry and good humour, and brightened with enjoyments peculiar to rational and focial beings. Detraction is among thofe vices, which the most languid virtue has fufficient force to prevent; because by detraction, that is not gained which is taken away: "He who filches from me my good name, fays Shakespear, enriches not himself, but makes me poor indeed :" as nothing therefore, degrades human na ture more than detraction, nothing more difgraces converfation. The detractor, as he is the lowest moral character, reflects greater difhonour upon his company, than the hangman; and he whofe difpofition is a fcandal to his fpecies, fhould be more diligently avoided, than he who is fcandalous only by his offences. But for this practice, however vile, fome have dared to apologize, by contending, the report, by which they injured an abfent character, was true this, however, amounts to no more, than that they have not complicated malice with falfhood, and that there is fome difference between detraction and flander. To relate all the ill that is true of the best man in the world, would probably render him the object of fufpicion and distrust; and was this practice univerfal, mutual confidence and efteem, the comforts of fociety, and the endearments of friendflip, would be at an end. There is fomething unfpeakably more hateful in those species of villainy by which the law is evaded, than those by which it is violated and defied. Courage has fometimes preferved rapacity from abhorrence, as beauty has been thought to apologize for proftitution; but the injuftice of cowardice is univerfally abhorred, and like the lewdness of deformity has no advocate. Thus hateful are the wretches who detract with caution; and while they perpetrate the wrong, are folicitous to avoid the reproach. They do not fay, that Chloe forfeited her honour to Lyfander; but they say, that fuch a report has been spread, they know not how true. Thofe who propagate thefe reports, frequently invent them; and it is no breach of charity to fuppofe this to be always the cafe; becaufe no man who fpreads detraction would have fcruple to produce it: and he who should |