164 STUDIES OF MATURE. 



preffes. He fometimes pronounces the panegyric 

 of good men ; and exalts even above the inventors 

 of arts, perfons who have rendered themfelves il- 

 luftrious by their continency, their modefty, and 

 their piety. 



His Work, in other refpedts, is a combination 

 of briUiancies. It is a real Encyclopedia, which 

 contains, as it ought, the hiftory of the knowledge, 

 and of the errors of his time. Thefe laft are fome- 

 times imputed to him very unjuftly, for he fre- 

 quently brings them forward, merely in the view 

 of refuting them. But he has been abufed by the 

 Phyficians, and the [Apothecaries, who have ex- 

 trafted the greateft part of their prefcriptions from 

 him, becaufe he finds fault with their conjedural 

 art, and with their fyftematic fpirit. He abounds, 

 beiides, in curious information, in profound views, 

 and interefting traditions j and, what renders his 

 performance invaluable, he uniformly expreffes 

 himfelf in a piclurefque manner. With all this 

 tafte, judgment, and knowledge, Pliny is an 

 atheift. Nature, from whofe capacious flores, he 

 has derived fuch various intelligence, may addrefs 

 him in the words of Cejar to Brutus : J-Vhat, you 

 too, my Jon ! 



Pliny I love, and I efleem : and if I may be per- 

 mitted to fay, in his juflificàtion, what I think of 



his 



