434 UN IVJERSAL ERUDITION. 



are the names of the moft celebrated tranflators, 1 

 as Amiot, Du Ryer, Dacier, &c. in what con- 

 fifls the merit or dement of each tranflation, 

 &c. The knowledge of all thefe matters is only 

 to be acquired by much reading and reflection, 

 and by frequenting the beft libraries. By thefe 

 means alfo, we are enabled to judge of anony- 

 mous works, and fometimes to difcover the 

 name of an author who may have thought 

 proper to conceal himfelf. 



IX. Prohibited books are commonly very 

 rare and coftly, and at the fame time are fcarce 

 ever worth the pains of looking after. We da 

 not know three prohibited works that are worth 

 reading: we fpeak of impious and irrational 

 works, fuch as the famous book De tribus im- 

 poftoribus, and the two that refemble it j or of 

 certain fanatical works, which are at conftant 

 variance with common fenfe : or of political 

 treatifes that have attacked the government at 

 particular periods, which being part, they have loft 

 all their fatire : or of lafcivious writings, which 

 are calculated to corrupt the morals of man- 

 kind ; or fuch works as fill weak and credulous 

 minds with all forts of chimeras, as the Clavicle 

 of Solomon, &c. All works like thefe are at beft 

 but matters of curiofity, and for the moft part 

 excite the readers pity ; fo that we are tempted 

 to exclaim, is thunder and lightning ncce/ary to 

 dejlroy fuch vermin as thefe ? It is certain, how- 

 ever, that an exorbitant power in the hands of 



the 



