Ckap.XVII.] Hisiorij. 357 



of Coiaitks, Cities y and otlier particular Districts : 

 and they are so numerous that they would form a 

 library of themselves. 



There is another species of historical composi- 

 tion, in some measure peculiar to the age under 

 review, of which several meritorious specimens 

 have been given. It consists in an exhibition of 

 ancient events, literature, and manners, under the 

 denomination oS Travels, and in the fictitious style 

 o^ Romance. In this class of writings the Athenian 

 Letters, printed in Great Britain in 1740, are 

 entitled to the first place. This work consists of 

 the imaginaiy correspondence of a set of Greeks, 

 the contemporaries of Socrates, Pericles, and Plato ; 

 but in reality of the actual correspondence of a 

 society of ingenious and learned gentlemen in the 

 university of Cambridge, who, under fictitious 

 characters, communicated to each other the result 

 of their researches into ancient history, and, 

 through this medium, laid before the public an 

 entertaining and instructive work *. The next 



* When this correspondence had continued for a considerable 

 time, and the number of letters had become so large as to render 

 the transcribing of them for the use oi the association too trou- 

 blesome, it was agreed to print tii:clvc copies, which was accord- 

 ingly done, in the year 1740; but the work was not then pub- 

 lished. In 178I, another small edition of oac hundnd copies 

 was printed ; but the work could not yet be said to be published, 

 as the circulation of it was confined to a few individuals. It was 

 not until 1798 that it was, strictly speaking, laid before the pub- 

 lic, in two vols, ^Ito. This work is said to be the best comment- 

 ary on Thucydides that ever was written. It was at first sup- 

 posed that Barthelemi had taken the plan of his work from this 

 pubUcation ; but it has since appeared that he had never seen the 

 Athenian tetters previous to the completion of his celebrated Tra- 

 vels of Jnacharsis. 



