1805.] 



Memoirs of M. Necker., by his Daughter. 



137 



tional light (" Fairie Queen," b. ii. can- 

 to ix. ft. 25). 

 *' Within the barbican a portrr fate 



Day and night duely keeping watch and 

 ward ; 

 Nor wight, nor word, mote pafle out of the 

 gate. 

 But in good order and with due regard ; 

 Utterers of fecrets he from thence debarr'd. 

 Babblers of felly and blazers of cryme j 

 His larum-bell might lowd and wide be 

 hard 

 When caufe requyr'd, but never out of time ; 

 Early and lace it rong, at evening and at 

 prime." 



The old pafTes into our caftles were ufu- 

 ally arched bridges oi ftone. Drawbridges 

 feeiT) to have made their appearance as 

 early as the fovirt.enih century, but were 

 not much ufcd till the time ot" Henry 

 VIII. 



So early as the time of Edward III. 

 caftle architeflure feims to have been a 

 little on the decline ; lor it is principally 

 in that reign that its ftrengtii and iolidity 

 were firft facrificed to converiiencs ; and 

 in the reign of Henry VIII. it had de- 

 fcended from the lofty towers, which, 

 difplayed at Caernarvon, Conway, and 

 Caerphilly, awed the beholder, to the 

 block-houfes of Cailhjt, Hurft, Sandown, 



Sandgate, and South Sea : and even fuch 

 as thefe were doomed within a few years 

 to fnroud their infignificance within dehi- 

 five banks of turf. 



Tiie nioft compleat and genuine model, 

 perhaps, of what acaftellated manfion was 

 in the days of Henry VIII. may be ga- 

 thered from the ruins of Cowdray Houfe, 

 in Suffex. j. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Mugazine. 



SIR, 



S all bodies poflefs a certain quantity 

 . of eleftric-fluid natural to them- 

 felves, which may be put in aftion by the 

 application of proper means, and thereby 

 producing the effcfls which are termed 

 pofiti'veznd negariiie ele8ricity : 



I would a(k, as a negation (ignl- 

 fies the abfence of that which a body ne- 

 ver pofleffed (as, a ftone having neither 

 fight nor hearing, is a negation), and pri- 

 vation that which a body has poftefted and 

 is deprived of; ;ind, as we deprive a body 

 of part or all of its natural fiiare of fluid to 

 produce what is called negative elei5lricity, 

 whether the words pri--uatlve eleftricity 

 would not be more proper ? S. 



Auguft 10, 1805. 



MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



MEMOIRS nf the CHARACTER and PRI- 

 VATE LIFE c/mR NECKER, TJrzV/^i/^ 

 ^/.J DAUGHTER, MADAME DE STAEL. 



I DEEM it an ohjedt of general intereft 

 to know the charaiSler and private lite 

 <•* a man, whole political carter will hold 

 fo diftinguifiied a place in hi(tory ; for the 

 obfervaticn of the human heart is founded 

 particularly on the fentiments and aftions 

 of thofe who have been placed in extraor- 

 dinary circumftances, and whom remark- 

 able events and eminent t;<lents have doom- 

 ed to Itruggle with fate and -vitn mankind. 

 This general intereft acquires frefli impor- 

 tance and becomes intimately coimeiled 

 with the caufe of the highelt morality, 

 when direilcd towards a man, who, en- 

 dowed with qualities which might have 

 been made fubCervient 10 a bonndlefs am- 

 bition, has been ever (wayed by the moft 

 conlcientious delicacy; a man, whole ge- 

 nius has been circum(<;ribed < nly by his 

 duties and afFeflions, and wh<.fe faculties 

 acknowledged no other limit* than hit vir- 

 MoN JULY Mac. No. 133. 



tues ; a man in fliort, who, at his out/et, 

 attended by the molt: dazzling profpenty, 

 was caft down by difaftrous calamities, and 

 who, prefenting himfelf to pofterity di- 

 velled of the fplendour of fucce.1, will be 

 judged and appreciated only by thofe 

 minds which poflefs fome fparks of hig 

 fpirit. 



One day, it is my intention, fliouid my 

 mind recover the blow v/hich has for ever 

 deftroyed my happinefs, to write the pub- 

 lic life of my father as a minifterand as aa 

 author ; but this life bein? neccfEirily and 

 alrogether connefted with the greatelt 

 epocha of European hiliorv, the French 

 Revolution, I rei'erve for otiur times a la- 

 bour, that might rekindle thofe hateful 

 palTions v.'hich death has difanned. Let 

 me tell the enemies of this man, who not 

 only has abftained from vcngt?.nce, but 

 whofe foul, always pure, ^nd always un- 

 fopiiift'cated, has never rttainid a trace of 

 the jufteft rel'entmenr, thn the object of 

 my delay is to withhold from them every 

 S motive 



