lygi. LITERARY INTStWQSNCER. 137 



Thefe are truths that will be readily admitted by 

 every one who is young and unhackneyed in the ways 

 of men ; but as age approaches, thefe fympathetic af- 

 fedions feem to fubfide : the pleafures of i'ocial inter-f 

 courfe diminiih ; and the love of wealth and power ac- 

 quire dominion in their ftead. Aged pcrfons in gene- 

 ral, greedy of power, and callous to the impulfes of 

 icindnefe, imagine that wealth or grandeur alone are 

 Sufficient to gratify every dellre of the foul. Forget- 

 ting their own rule for judging while young, they wiflj 

 to deprive others of tlie fame privilege ihey valued 

 once fo highly themfelves ; and thus are led to dictate 

 with the Bioft inflexible authority to their children as 

 to the choice of a companion for life; the moft mo- 

 mentous traiifadion in which any man c^n ever be en- 

 gaged. 



Nor is this propenfity confined to one country, or to 

 one fet of people on the globe ; but it extends its in- 

 fluence, in a greater or lefTer degree, to all nations that 

 can aftume to themfelves the proud name of civilized. 

 Among fuch people, laws have ever been contrived, 

 which, by a flem inflexibility, overpower the voice of 

 nature, and make man fubmit to her imperious decrees. 

 The following aftedling ftory evinces the tnith of thefe 

 remarks — would to God it were in the regions of def- 

 potifm alone that fuch tranfadtions were to be found '. 

 But in defpotic and in free governments, the fam6 cruel 

 principle will be found to prevail. Even in Britain, 

 which boafts of the happinefs her people are permitted 

 to enjoy, the lame tyrannical law in this refpect pre- 

 vails, as in that defpotic ftate, where the tranfa<Sion I 

 am about to relate took place. What follows is a li- 

 teral tranflation of a letter from Rome, which appeared 

 as an article of intelligence in the Mercurio de Effana for 

 the month of December 1 7S6. 



" In this capital (Rome) we have juft now witnefTed 

 an event, which has drawn tears from every body here. 

 It is five years fince a young gentleman of the family 



Vol. I. S 



