to hear, from the chair of justice, that truth is a libel, a doctrine which tears up the foundations of civil fociety, and compared to which transubstantiation, or even the divine right of tyrants, is a modeft and respectable sophifm. With what indignation would the author of the treatise de jure regni have branded the father and abettors of fuch an execrable maxim. It is natural enough, that a barrister, whose life has been employed in brawling, fhould in the end distort his own mind out of all sense of equity, and when HE mounts the saddle of authority, fuch decifions may fometimes be expected; but what are we to think of those abandoned jurors, who fporting with the truft of their fellow citizens, have crouched under this utmost infolence of juridical corruption.

(To be continued.)

HINTS TO THE LEARNED.

A beautiful unedited poem of Prior's was not long fince in the poffeffion of a lady of diftinction, now deceased. The fubject, (if I remember right,) the art of poetry.

Among the papers of the late learned and amiable Dr. Spence of Durham, author of the Polymites and other valuable works, there were characteristics of the manners and principles of his own times, accompanied with hiftorical and biographical notes, thefe by means of a judicious felection, might be rendered very useful and worthy of the public.

In the multiplicity of what we moderns are pleased to call original works, (but which are nevertheless hardly any thing better than hache's or olio podridas of the ancients,) we have been too little attentive to the ufeful and refpectable task of tranflating fuch works as are locked up in languages, unintellegible to

thofe who have not made Greek and Latin the study of their lives; it being certain, that not one of an hundred of those who have had the best claffical education are capable of reading Tully with the feeling and conception of a Melmoth, or to receive the general effect of a Greek or Latin claffic without fuch affiftance; and that it is highly defireable in common politenefs, and even in common decency, that the fair fex fhould participate in our pleasures, whether literary or domeftic.

The miscellaneous works of Plutarch ought to be correctly and elegantly tranflated into the living languages of all polite nations, on account of the moral as well as natural treafures they contain, and the many curious particulars with which they abound, from which, as from a rich mine, the facetious Montaigne has laid the foundation of entertainment to all his readers for ever. These books ought to be accompanied with notes, in the manner of the learned Mr Duttens, in his enquiry into the origin of the difcoveries

attributed to the moderns.

The fame may be faid concerning the varia hiftoriæ of Elian, and the works of Paufanias.

Except a few of Seneca's epiftles, poorly tranflated by Sir Roger L'Eftrange, we have nothing in our language that can convey the fentiments of that moral writer to the unlearned; a defcription of individuals much more extenfive than it might be decent or prudent to declare.

Mr Melmoth once intended to tranflate thefe epiftles, but defifted on account of the difficulty attending the letters which treat of the culture of vines and of olive trees.

A general affembly of the learned, in Europe, to be formed of reprefentatives, chofen by all the regular philofophical and literary focieties for the time being, is a conflitution in the republic of learning much

VCL. VI.

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to be defired, and which would do more for the improvement of the world, than any inftitution that has yet been thought of. The feffion of this affembly ought to be rotatory in the different capital cities of Europe, each fociety chufing a delegate to refide at the feat of the affembly, with a competent allowance for his travelling charges and maintenance.

Nine members to be chofen from the affembly, as a council, and four more as cenfors, in the four great general departments of human knowledge, four clerks in each of these departments, and two fecretaries to e affembly to carry on its correspondence.

A general circulation of transactions to take place quarterly, and a general report to be made annually of the state of fcience and literature.

A prefs to be established for printing fuch manufcripts as have been approved by the council, the profits of which, after paying charges, to be remitted to the authors or proprietors.

Slight Notices of a curious and rare Book, entitled, The History of the Conqueft of Spain by the Moors, oris ginally written about the Year 750, by Abalcacim Abentarique, in the Arabic Language, and tranflated into Spanish by Miguel de Luna, Arabic Interpreter to Philip II. of Spain; printed in Granada Anno 1599, and never tranflated into English.

I CONSIDER the book which forms the subject of the prefent article as one of the greateft literary curiofities to be met with any where. It contains the hiftory of an interefting period that is very little known, and gives a view of the arts, sciences, manners, and modes of thinking of a great people, concerning whom few memorials are preferved in Europe. It was written about a hundred years before the days of our Alfred,

at a time when Britain, France, Germany, and Italy were involved in the darkest ignorance and barbarism: when princes could not read, when bishops were not capable of writing, and when a province was fometimes mortgaged for a book: yet it appears, by the clearest internal evidence, that the author was a man of learning, of found judgment, extensive knowledge, liberality of mind, and great piety, without the smallest tincture of bigotry ;-that his tafte had been refined by an acquaintance with the writings of the ancients; that agriculture, commerce, manufactures, were objects familiar to him, and understood by the body of the people to whom he belonged. Even Spain, which afterwards funk into such a deplorable ftate of ignorance and religious fanaticifm, appears to have been, before the conqueft of it by the Moors, much farther advanced in civilization, and to have poffeffed a more perfect knowledge of the ufeful arts than any other European nation; and the country was then much better peopled, more highly cultivated, and enjoyed a better form of government than at the prefent day.

In the course of this work is given a particular account of the private and public life of the great Miramamolin Jacob Almanzor, the conqueror of Spain, and of the manner in which he regulated his conduct, and managed the affairs of his kingdom. This part of the work was written at the exprefs command of Abilgualit Abninazr, the fon of Almanzor, by a nobleman. who had been about his perfon as chamberlain, as we would now call it, for upwards of 40 years. In this account the writer difplays, I would not fay defcribes, the beneficent arts by which the great Almanzor attained to that eminence of power which made him be beloved and reverenced by all those over whom his influence extended.-We are here prefented with aview of the exercises and studies of an ingenuous youth, spirited in his pursuits, magnanimous in enterprise, and

liberal in all his views. The young Almanzor, instead of entering on scenes of diffipation and riotous living, engaged, with unremitting ardour, in the ftudy of fcience, and in improving himfelf in political knowledge, in military exercifes, and manly exertions. He compofed, himself, feveral books, that were in much eftimation in mathematics, the military art, philosophy, and politics. He was well acquainted with the Greek and Latin authors; and at the age of 25 he fpoke eleven languages, and wrote them with perfect eafe.Thefe are acquirements of fuch a fingular nature, when compared with thofe of cotemporary princes, as might pafs for fables, had they not been written at the time the facts were recent, and notoriously known to millions who were then alive. Nor could the writer have formed an idea of thefe acquirements, or have defcribed them as familiar objects, had not fimilar acquirements, though perhaps in a leffer degree, been then common in the nation.

Of the great wealth of the Moorifh princes at that time fome idea may be formed from the following anecdote.-The father of Almanzor having called a meeting of his nobles to celebrate the birth-day of his fon, when he attained his fifteenth year, he treated them with great kindness and liberality. Young Almanzor, in the mean while, diftributed money freely among them, without taking the trouble of counting it; but the treafurer having weighed it, found, that in one afternoon, he had diftributed no less than 25 arobas and 13 lb. weight of gold, in all 563 lb. of gold; which, at the rate of 441. per lb. amounts to 24,7721. Sterling. The king, on being told of this largess, expreffed fome furprise at it; but the prince cafily fatisfied him that he had only done what he ought to have done.-This fum appeared to be fo inconfiderable, that it gave the king no apparent uneafinefs.