quarto pages of proofs and memorials, on both fides, now lie before us, and from them this narrative has been principally collected. We have already given fome particulars of Sir John Stewart's character. That of the duke of Douglas was equally excentric in a contrary direction. He was brave to a degree of

brutality; and fo fond of his fifter, that he fought a duel in her vindication with another nobleman, as bloody and defperate as that which has been fo often recorded between Bruce and Sackville, in the reign of James I. We fhall draw a veil over a much blacker circumftance in his life, which he afterwards perpetrated on the fame lady's account. Though he understood the value of money (perhaps too well), yet his behaviour on fome occafions in the early part of his life, feemed to entitle him to a guardianship; and lady Jane is said to have made fome attempts of that kind; which he long refented. His attachment to the prefent royal family, by whose clemency he enjoyed his life and eftate, was remarkable and meritorious; but we know nothing of his having had (as this writer fays) a difference with his fovereign in his youth, of his quitting the court in difguft, and of his retiring to Douglas-Caftle," where he lived upwards of thirty years, a prey to melancholy, which the gloom of folitude feldom fails to infpire." That he retired to Douglas-Castle is true; but it is certain he lived there with the fame ease and indifference as he had done before the melancholy accident we have hinted at happened; nor did he appear to be fufceptible either of remorfe or melancholy.

Upon the whole, this concife narrative may be of use to those who are willing to be inftructed in the merits of this important cause, and who have no opportunity of examining the voluminous memorials laid by both parties before the courts of justice.

X. The Hiftory of the Chevalier des Grieux, Written by Himfelf. Tranflated from the French. 8vo. Pr. 45. B. White.

I

F ever the vanity of an author is an object of entertainment, it appears particularly fantastical when he openly arrogates our esteem. It is pleafant, therefore, to behold the Chevalier des Grieux thus declaring in the preface to his hif tory, the great utility of novels: Works like this, (fays he) may be extremely useful, I mean when they are composed by a writer of character and good fenfe;' fuch no doubt as the Chevalier des Grieux. However, without being biaffed by any prejudice, in regard either of the merit or vanity of the author, we acknowledge that we have perufed this romance

with greater fatisfaction, than we generally meet with in pro ductions of this kind. There is in it a variety of incidents which are interefting: the characters, in general, are confiftent; and the whole narration is eafy, animated, and agreeable.

The Chevalier des Grieux is the fon of a good family in Picardy. He was fo diftinguished for the regularity of his behaviour in his youth, that he was proposed by his tutors, as a pattern to the whole college. At the age of feventeen, when he had finished his philofophical ftudies at Amiens, and was upon the point of returning to his relations; he accidentally met at an inn with a young girl, named Manon, whom her parents had fent to a convent against her will. The Cheva lier, who was charmed with her beauty, opposed this cruel intention of her friends with all the arguments he could think of, and eafily prevailed upon her to fruftrate their defign. A ftratagem was now concerted to elude the vigilance of the guardian who attended her, and the young lovers set off in the morning, in a poft-chaife for Paris. This precipitate conduct plunged them into a series of misfortunes, which fill up the sequel of the history.

In making a pafs at Chriftian generofity, the Chevalier feems to confound that quality with the virtue of meekness: and whether he is a good Christian or not, he has certainly been too lavish of his blood in the following paffage.

mi

The question then was, how I fhould replenisli my purse ? M. de Thurot had generously offered me his, but I was extremely loth to recruit myself in that manner. What a figure a man makes who expofes his wants to a stranger, and begs to be admitted to a fhare of his fortune! None but a mean fpirit can be capable of it, by a bafeness which prevents his perceiving the difgrace of it, or an humble Chriftian by an excess of generofity which renders him fuperior to that shame. I was neither a man of a mean spirit nor a good Chriftian; I would have given half my blood to avoid fuch a humiliation. Tiberge,' faid I, the good Tiberge, will he refufe me what he may be able to give me? No, he will be affected by my fery; but he will kill me with his morals. I must bear his reproaches, his exhortations, his threats; he will make me buy his affiftance at fo dear a rate, that I would again part with half my blood rather than expofe myself to that vexatious scene which will load me with trouble and remorse. Well,' added I, • I must then relinquish all hope, as I have no other resource left, and as I am fo far from employing these two, that I would rather shed half my blood than employ either, that is to fay, all my blood rather than employ them both. Yes, all my blood,' faid I, after a moment's paufe, I would rather forfeit it all than ftoop to a mean fupplication. But is my

blood

blood here at ftake? The life, the fupport of Manon, her love, her conftancy are all at stake: What have I to weigh in the scale with her? At present I have nothing. She supplies the place of fame, profperity, and good fortune. No doubt there are many things that I would give my life to obtain or avoid, but the valuing any thing more than my life is no reafon why I fhould value it as I do Manon.'

From the time that fentence of banishment is pronounced against Manon, the hiftory, which had formerly entertained us for the most part with scenes of gaiety, affumes, without any future interruption, the air of a more serious and affecting narration. The agitations which arife in the mind of Des Grieux on this occafion, with his project of refcuing her from the guards, and, lastly, the refolution he forms of accompanying her into exile, are fuitable to the violence of his paffion. But no part of the history is fo full of diftrefs and tenderness, as the defcription of the behaviour of the two lovers, on their arrival at the wretched cottage which was deftined for their abode in New Orleans. Here Manon bursts into a flood of tears; giving us to understand, at the fame time, that they flow not fo much on her own account, as for him who participates her fufferings. The Chevalier endeavours to comfort her with all the arguments that love can fuggeft; till both are foothed into a state of tranquility, which nothing but a consciousness of the strongest mutual affection could infpire, and which is followed with the defire of completing their felicity by the bonds of a virtuous alliance. The fentiments in the clofe of this fcene are tender and refined. I went to reft, fays the Chevalier des Grieux, with these pleasing ideas,' which changed my cottage into a palace worthy the first monarch in the world. America, after this, appeared to me a scene of delights. It is to NewOrleans that one must come,' said I frequently to Manon, when one would tafte the true fweets of love. Here it is that we love without intereft, without jealoufy, without inconftancy. Our countrymen come hither to seek for gold; they little imagine that we have found here treasures much more valuable.'

To dismiss this history: it is an agreeable entertainment; and for those who would learn to profit by the misfortunes of others, the catastrophe is adapted to make impreffions upon the mind which may be favourable to the purposes of morality. XI. The Hiftory of Aftronomy, with its Application to Geography, Hiftory, and Chronology; occafionally exemplified by the Globes. By George Coftard, A. M. Vicar of Twickenham, in Middlesex. 4to. Pr. 10s. 6d. J. Newbery.

I

T is with the hiftory of a science as with that of a nation; the origin of each is loft in fable and obfcurity. There is, however, no entertainment more pleafing to the mind, than to

trace,

trace, as far as poffible, the fources of those elements upon which a science has been founded. By thefe means, we difcern in what manner each discovery paved the way to what followed; and by what eafy steps, through the revolution of many thoufand years, our knowledge has been carried to that degree of perfection at which it is now arrived. Of all fpeculative sciences, there is none, from which more important and univerfal advantages have been derived to mankind, than from that of aftronomy. Navigation, geography, and even the truth of hiftory, are founded upon it for without the knowledge of its principles, neither remote diftances could be fixed, nor the dates of remote transactions ascertained: not to mention the moral and religious ufes to which it may be fubfervient, by convincing us, in the strongest manner, of the wisdom, power, and goodnefs, of the Author of the universe.

The history now before us exhibits an extenfive prospect of the whole improvements which have been made in aftronomy, from the earliest period of its cultivation to the prefent times.

The author has divided the work into feveral parts; one of which is the hiftory of aftronomy from the Flood to Thales. In this part he confiders the pretenfions of thofe nations which lay claim to the greateft antiquity in the knowledge of this science these are the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese.

Of the Babylonians he obferves, that Callifthenes, according to Porphyry, as he is cited by Simplicius, fent to Ariftotle from Babylon, when it was taken by Alexander, obfervations for 1903 years before that time, which, confequently, must have been for about 2230 years before Chrift. But what kind of obfervations thefe, were is not known, as no particulars are mentioned, nor any thing more is faid of them by any other author than Simplicius, who lived under the emperor Juftinian, about the year after Chrift 530. As to the eclipfes of the moon, the oldeft that Hipparchus found of fervice to him, went no higher than the year before Chrift 721. Whatever obfervations, therefore, the Chaldeans had before this, they were probably rude in their kind, and chiefly, if not entirely, related to the rifings and fettings of the fixed ftars, and the forming them into affemblages, or conftellations.",

As to the antiquity of aftonomy among the Egyptians, the accounts of it are fo fabulous as fcarcely deferve to be mentioned. According to Diogenes Laertius, the author of their philofophy was Nilus, the father of Vulcan. From his time to that of Alexander the Great were 48,863 years. During this period, Laertius adds, there had been 373 eclipfes of the fun, and 832 of the moon. But where thefe eclipfes were obferved he doth not fay, nor what authority he had for faying

they

they were observed at all. It doth not appear, that Hipparchus made any use of eclipfes obferved in Egypt; becaufe, probably, neither their times, nor quantities, had been fet down, at least, with. fufficient accuracy for his purpofe of ftating, from them," the mean motions of the fun and moon.'

Our author remarks, that, amorg the Egyptians, the term. did not always fland for the fame precife quantity of time.

year

In the early ages, according to Alexander Polyhiftor and Plutarch, their year confifted of one month, and afterwards of four months; i. e. their first years were lunar years. Cenforinus, but with lefs probability, fays, that their oldeft year confifted of two months; that afterwards it confifted of four months; and, laftly, of thirteen months and five days. But it is plain, this could not be till long after the times we are now speaking of, when they came, by intercalations, to adjust the motions of the fun and moon together.'

The next great national pretenders to antiquity are the Chinefe. But the fabulous authorities on which they endeavour to establish it, have already been fufficiently refuted.

Part III. contains the hiftory of aftronomy from Thales to Alexander the Great.

Thales is faid by Plutarch to have been the first perfon (probably among the Greeks) who taught that folar eclipfes were caused by the interpofition of the moon between the fun and the earth. And that he was, in fome fort, acquainted with the nature of folar eclipfes appears from Herodotus, who fays, that he foretold to the Ionians that eclipfe which put an end to the war between the Lydians and Medes. This, from feveral circumstances, our author reckons, could be no other than the folar eclipfe in the year before Chrift 603. He obferves further, that if folar eclipfes were understood, at that time, in this manner, Xenophanes, after this, about the year before Chrift 521, must have been greatly mistaken, or mifreprefented by Plutarch, when he delivers it as his opinion, that the fun was entirely extinguished when he was eclipfed, and a new one produced.

As to the manner in which Thales was enabled to predict an eclipse of the fun to the lonians, the hiftorian thinks it probable, that it was not by the help of aftronomical tables, there being no room to fuppofe that there were any, in times much later than his; but that it must have been by means of the Chaldean Saros, or, as it is more commonly called, the Plinian period. It is a period confifting of 223 lunations, and was much esteemed by Dr. Halley, who, from this principle, predicted an eclipfe of the fun in 1684, with an exactness little inferior to the observation itself, at that time. Tho' this was a precision greater than we have any reafon to think Thales was VOL. XXIV. August, 1767. L capable

t