48 
It appears from Sully’s original work 
. that Henry IV. intended that all Europe 
fhould be compofed into fitteen domi- 
mations, fo as to form one vaft republic, 
peacetul in itfelf, and capable at all times 
of pacifying all its conftituent ftates*: 
‘This {cheme was to be adjufted in fuch a 
manner, that each ftate would find it moft 
for its own intereft to fupport it on all 
eccafions. \ 
TE have marked a paflage in the firtt vo- 
fume, p. 31, full of-terrific truth. Look 
at it. *¢ Les plus grandes, magnifiques, 
et ferieufes affaires d’Eftat tirerent leur 
origine, et leurs plus violens mouvements, 
des niaiferies, jalouftes, envies, et autres 
bizareries de la Cour; et {fe reglent 
plutoft fur icelles, que fur les meditations 
et confultations bien digerées, ny fur 
les confiderations d’ honneur, de gloire, 
ny du foy.”” THE MOST GRAND, MAG- 
NIFICENT, AND SERIOUS AFFAIRS OF 
STATE DERIVE THEIR ORIGIN, AND 
THEIR MOST VIOLENT MOVEMENTS, 
FROM THE SILLINESSES, JEALOUSIES, 
ENVIES, AND OTHER WHIMS OF THE 
CouRT$ AND ARE RATHER REGU- 
LATED BY THESE, THAN BY MEDITA- 
TIONS, AND WELL-DIGESTED CON- 
SULTATIONS, OR BY CONSIDERATIONS 
OF HONOUR, GLORY, OR GOOD 
BALE 4 © 
EXLIV. SCEPTICISM AND CURIOSITY. 
bt non fa niente, non dubita dt mientc, 
«© He who knows nothing doubts of no- 
thing,”’ fays an Italian proverb. -Scepti- 
cifm and curiofity are the chief {prings of 
Knowledge. Without the firft we might 
reft contented with prejudices, and falfe 
- information; without the fecond the mind 
would become indifferent, and torpid. 
CXLV. SIR JOHN GERMAIN. 
T fhall tell you a very feolifh but a true, 
ftory. Sir John Germain, anceftor of 
lady Betty Germain, was a Dutch ad- 
venturer, who came over here in the reign 
ot Charles If. He had an intrigue with 
a countefs, who was divorced, and mar- 
ried him. This man was fe ignorant, 
that being told that Sir Matthew Decker 
‘wrote St. Matthew’s gofpel, he firmly 
believed it. I doubted this tale ¥ery 
much, till I atked a lady of quality his 
defcendant about it, who told me it was 
moft true. She added that Sir John Ger- 
main was in confequence fo much per- 
fuaded of Sir Matthew’s piety, that, by 
his will, he left two hundred pounds to 
Sir Matthew, to be by him diftributed 
among the Dutch paupers in London. 
When Sir John Gergain was @ his 
Walpoliana, No. X. 
[Jan. 
death-bed, his lady defired him to receive 
the facrament. ‘* Do you think,” faid 
he, “that it will do me any good ??”°— 
*¢ Certainly,”’ fhe anfwered. He took it: 
and, after half an hour, faid to her, “* My 
dear, what was that little thing you made 
me take? You faid it would do me good, 
but I do not feel a bit better.” 
CXLVI. VIRTWOS!. 
Virtuofi have been long remarked to 
have little confcience in their favourite 
purfuits.. A man will fteal a rarity, who 
would cut off his hand rather than take 
the money it is worth. Yet in fact the 
crime is the fame. 
Mr. * * * 1s a truly worthy clergy- 
man, who-colleéts coins and books, A 
friend of mine mentioning to him that 
he had feveral ‘of the Strawberry Hill 
editions, this clergyman faid, “‘Aye, but 
I can fhew you what it is not in Mr. 
Walpole’s power to give you.”” Hethen 
produced a lift of the pictures in the De- 
vonfhire, and other twe collections in 
London, printed at my prefs. I was 
much furprized. It was, I think, about 
the year 1764, that, on reading the fix 
volumes of ‘* London and its Environs,”* 
I ordered my printer to throw off one 
copy for my own ufe. ‘This printer was 
the very man who, after he had left my 
fervice, produced the noted copy of 
Wilkes’s Eflay on Woman. He had 
ftolen one copy of this lift; and I muft 
blame the reverend amateur for purchafing 
it of him, as it was like receiving ftolen 
goods. ~ 
CXLVII. ORIGINAL LETTER. 
Strawberry Hull, Sept. 17, 1785. 
You are too modeft, Sir, in afking my 
advice on a pomt, on which you coud 
have no better guide than your own*judg- 
ment. If I prefume to give you my opi- 
nion, it is trom zeal for your honour. If 
think it would be below you to make a 
regular anfwer to anonymous feriblers in 
amagazine. You had better wait to fee 
whether eny formal reply is made to 
your book, and whether by any avowed 
writer, to whom, if he writes fenfibly 
and decently, you may condefcend to 
make an anf{wer. 
still, as you fay you have been mif- 
quoted, I fhould not wifh you to be quite 
filent, though f fhoud like better to have 
you turn fuch enemies into ridicule. A 
foe who mifquotes you ought to be a 
welcome antagonift. He is fo humble as 
to cenfefs, when he cenhires what you 
have wot faid, that he cannot confute what 
you have faid—and he is fo kind as to 
furnith 
