12 
recommends, and which fince, the Greeks 
none have executed betterthan the Spa- 
niards; this I conceive to be what ap- 
peared unpleafant to Cicero, whofe ears 
were accuftomed to verfes little more 
harmonious than thofe of Ennius. 
The epitle from which an extract was 
printed in your Magazine, is given by 
the prefent editor to Francifco de Rioje. 
I know not. whether the reafons he 
afigns are fufficient to afcertain the 
author, but they certainly prove that it 
could not have been written by Bartolome 
Leonardo : . 
I have feleéted three fonnets as cha- 
a€eriftic of thefe authors, the two firft 
are by Lupercio : 
Thou art determined to be beautiful, 
Lyris! and, Lyris, either thou art mad, 
Or heft no looking-glais ; doft thou not know 
Thy paivt-beplafter’d forehead, broad and 
bare, 
Wich not a grey lock left, thy mouth fo black, 
Ana that invincible breath ? We rightly deem 
That with a random hand blind Fortune deals 
The lors of life, to thee the gave a boon 
That crowds fo asxioufly and vainly wifh, 
Old age, and lef: in thee no trace of youth 
Save all its folly and its ignorance. , 
eee 
Content with what I am; the founding names 
. Of siory tempt not me; nor is there ought 
In glittering grandeur that provokes one wifh 
Beyond my peaceful ftate. What tho’I boat 
No trepping that the multitude adores 
In common with the great; enough for me 
That naked, like the mighty of the earth, 
I came into the world, and that like them 
I muf defcend into the grave, the houfe 
For all appointed; for the {pace between, 
‘What more cf happinefs have I to feek 
Than that dear woman’s love, whofe truth I 
know, 
And whofe fond heart is fatisfied with me ? 

From Bartclome Leonardo. 
Fabius, to think that God hath in the lines 
Of theright hand difclofed the things to come, 
And in the wrinkles of the fkin pourtrayed, 
As in a map, the way of human hie, - 
This is to follow with the multitude 
Error or ignorance, their common guides ; 
Yet furely I allow that God has placed 
Our fate in our own hands, or evil or good 
Even as we make it: tell me, Fabius, 
Ar’t not a king thyfelf ?—-when envying rfot 
The lot of kings, no idle with diiturbs 
Thy quiet life ; when, a felf-govern’d man, 
No laws exift to thee; and when no change 
With which the willof Heaven may vift thee, 
Can break the even calimnefs of thy foul ? 
ow. X. 
Difcoveries nat cafual....Godwin’ s Effay on Enghfb Style. | [Jan 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
ar RU RaW . 
[2s a common obfervation, that almoft 
~ all great diftoverics have been flumbled 
upon by chaxce : a multitude. of inftances 
might eafily be cited, to confirm its truth. 
Now [I have, with concern, heard this 
faét employed, as an argument, to dif- 
courage eager fcientific refearch : “ Why 
not truft to that chance which has ftruck 
out the moft valuable inventions-of pat 
ages? Why withdraw from thesordinary 
duties and pleafures of life, to bufy one’s 
felf in vain inveftigations, which are, moft 
probably, to end in ridiculous difappoint- 
ment ?”” 
To me it occurs, that this reafoning, 
which, to lazy ignorance, appears but too 
{pecious, might be filenced for ever, if it 
could be afcertained, that w/eful inventions 
and difcoveries hawe become continually more 
numerous, precifely in proportion as tbe gene-. 
ral mals of human knowledge bas been aug- - 
mented and diffufed, aud as the thirft of 
“iterary and feientipic curiofity bas become 
more impatient, and bas been excited fill in 
a greater number of minds. But t know 
no very promifing means of afcertaining 
this, other than to imtreat you to put the 
quettion, through the channel of your 
Magazine, ‘* Whether our ufeful inven- 
tions and difcoveries have not been muiti- 
plied, in proportion as our knowledge has 
been enlarged ?” ‘ ; 
Pray oblige me by putting this quef- 
tion. I have little doubt but your hoft of 
enlightened correfpondents may eafily 
furnith fuch anfwers-as fhall for ever fx 
the general truth upon this not waimportant 
point. 
I am, fir, your conftant reader, 
A FRIEND TO) ~_ 
PHILOSOPHICAL EXPERIMENT. 
University of Glafgow, Dec. 17, 1797- 
To ihe Edttor of the. Monthly Magazzme. 
SIR, 
PROFESS myfelf a very warm admirer 
- sof the writings of Mr. WILLIAM ~ 
Gopwin. He has feized fome of the 
moft impertant truths in morality, with a 
lyax-eyed intuition, powerful to pierce 
through every ob{/curity, and to fingle out 
its obje& at once, however numbertlefs the 
myriads of others among which it may 
be entangled. ‘The reader of his books 
feels,.on many occafions, as if he were 
fuddenly gifted with the author’s own 
vigorous intuition; aad can difcern the 
truth of his moft valuable principles, 
without the toil and perplexity of reafon- 
ang 

