[ odd ] [Jan. 1 , 
Extracts frOrn the Portfolio of a Man of Letters, 
flKGrr.AR BREACHES OF COSTr31E. 
Ol’RGOANXE notes a painting in 
Spain, where Abraham is preparing 
to sliOot Isaac witli a pistol. In the illu¬ 
minations ot a manuscript Bible at Paris, 
under the Psalms, are t« o persons playing 
at cards. Under Job, &c. are coats of 
arms, and a windmill.— Notices des j\ISS, 
du Kui VI. 119, 1^0. 
FEUDAL CLAIMS. 
In a charter of the commonalty of 
Sir John of A?ig€riacu7}2, dated 1209, 
Young men and maidens are freely al¬ 
lowed, by charter, to kiss without any 
contradiction. Due. Gloss, v. Basia 
Juve?iu7?i. 
extraordinary panacea. 
The false Democritus recommends, as 
almost the only and speediest cure of 
wounds by incision, a plaister of human 
feces. 
R. GRIFFIS. 
This man was for nearly fifty years, 
with slight intervals, the conductor 
of the INIonthiy Review, a work which, 
in his time, acquired some credit with 
the public; but which, since his death, 
has been sinking in reputation, and is 
now onsiderably superseded in esti- 
lEation by the Edinburgh Review, and 
some other works of pretended criticism. 
He was originally a watch-maker at 
Stone, in Staffordshire, and a steady at¬ 
tendant at the presbyterian meeting at 
that place. Abandonins; his trade, he 
came to London, and turned bookseller, 
first on Ludgate hill, and afterwards in 
St. Paul’s Church-yard, and in Pater- 
lioster-ro'v. 
One of his first adventures as a pub¬ 
lisher, was in that notorious work of Cle- 
land’s, called the “ History of Fanny 
Bill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Plea¬ 
sure.” This work lie had the assurance 
to recommend to the public as a rival of 
Tom Jones, in a printed criticism upon 
it, in one of the early numbers of tlie 
^Monthly Review ,* He was however ap- 
prel'.ended under a general warrant, as 
the publi^her; but, having contrived to re¬ 
move the copies out of his house, hy 
the back door, he escaped the punisli- 
ment which otherwise might have be¬ 
fallen him. 
He . afterwards removed into the 
Strand, where be failed ; and his Review', 
b eing sold tor the benefit of his creditors, 
* See a former Magaziaej 
was purchased by Colhns, then an en¬ 
terprising bookseller of Salisbury, Under 
Collins the work improved in variety and 
reputation, if not in sale; and Griffis, 
who had retained the management, re¬ 
gained the whole of the properly itself 
about the year 1780. 
He now began a new series, and the 
profits of the work were so much in¬ 
creased, that he commenced a handsou.e 
establishment at Turnhain Green ; la'^- 
terly kept two carriages, and lived in 
style. He was also made a Doctor 
of Law, by some obscure American Uni¬ 
versity. He died a few* years since, at a 
time when his Review liad attained the 
zenith of its glory. But the work, having 
lost the mind wliich planned and reared 
it, maintains at present but a secondary 
rank among our literary Journals. The 
craft of reviewing begins indeed to be 
better understood than formerly; and the 
whole of this class of works, have con¬ 
sequently lost much of that importance 
and influence which rendered them for 
many years so pernicious.to the interests 
of truth and literature. 
ARISTOTLE, A JEW ! 
Bartolocci, in his Bibliotheque Rabbi- 
nique, proves that some Rabbins have 
made Aristotle a Jeu-! others, that he 
was the real author of the works of 
Solomon ! some, more moderate, only 
affirm that lie became a Jew before i.e 
died, and then retracted all his writings! 
BOURHANIDDIN IBRAHIM, 
In his exhortation to pilgrimages to 
Jerusalem, speaks of the advantages of 
dying at Jerusalem, adding that it was 
full as advantageous to die. in Heaven 
itself! —An exquisite blunder of sense ! 
MEMENTO MORI. 
Sir Richard Hoare gives us the follow, 
ing epitaph at Limerick, where Jlori is 
spelt with ay! but the whole is curious. 
MEMENTO MORY. 
Here lyeth littele Safnuel Barinton, that 
great undertaker, 
Of famious citti deck and chime-niaker, 
He made his one time goc early and latter. 
But now'he is returned to God his creator. 
The 19 of November then he seest, and for 
his memory 
This here is pleast by his son Ben, 1693. 
JESUIT MISSIONARIES. 
IMaiiland, in bis History of London, 
says, that some Jesuits, preaching to the 
American Indians, told them, in oider 
to injure the English in their opinion, 
that 
1 
