260 Account of the late Marquis Beccaria. [O&. * 
This is all the information which I 
have been able to colleét upon the fubject. 
An enquiry into it may poflibly throw 
fome light on a matter hitherto but little 
anderftood, I mean the principles of ve- 
getation, refpecting which, the learned 
have favoured us with a long catalogue 
of fefquipedaha verba, but with little or 
no information of practical utility. I 
remain, Sir, your's, &c. . 
Zyme, 2. 12, 1798. rE. 
$e Oa PR 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
STR, 
AM not certainly informed whether 
the Italians have written the eulogium 
of the late Marquis Beccaria. Any par- 
ticulars relating to the dife of that illuf-’ 
trious charaéter, whofe name is already 
fynonymous to thofe of philofophy and 
humanity, deferve to be tranfmitted to 
the remoteft pofterity,, with au the m- 
ftruStive fingularities that accompany the 
exertions of great minds. Jn the mean 
time, I hope the Englifh public will re- 
ceive favourably the following .concife 
memoir of his life and character, through 
the channel of your very wfetul mifcel- 
dany. 
The Marquis Cesar Bectaria Bo- 
NESANA was born about the year 1720. 
He had difcovered from his infancy a na- 
tural inclination to the ftudy of philofo- 
phy ; but-his genius would never have had 
an opportunity to difplay itfelffully, if two 
material circumftances had not paved the 
way for a revolution in the minds of the 
Etalians. One of thefe was, the confi- 
derable progrefs which the moral and po- 
Fitical {cienees ‘had made at that time in 
Waples, under the celebrated Genovefi, 
who, it may be faid, firft taught the Ita- 
Kans how to think; and the other, the 
powerful impulfion given to the Milanefe 
literature by Count de Firman, the 
Auftrian governor of Lombardy. Bec- 
earia gratefully and ingenueufly acknow- 
ledged thefe two important advantages. 
He always honoured Genoveii with the 
title of * bis venerable andlecrned mafter;” 
and le fpoke of Count Firmian as ¢ an 
angel deputed by a fuperior Providence 
to recal Lombardy to the glory of let- 
ters,” and *¢a promoter of the philan- 
thropy and felicity of his age.” 
The firft work Beccaria publithed was 
his moft famous performance on Crimes 
and Punifhments; a publication which 
yaifed its author to the pinnacle of fame, 
and alfo expofed him to fame dangers. 
This work was juitly celebrated all over ~ 
Europe; and the author's ideas were fo 
well underftood, that we need not {cruple 
to affert, that few books ever produced 
fo memorable a revolution in the human 
mind, in government, and in courts of 
juftice, asthis: fo that-Vokaire, who al- 
moft immediately after publifhed fome 
commentaries upon it, could affirm with 
juttice, that this little book was in marals, 
what in medicine the difcovery of a {mall 
drug would be, competent to effe& an | 
univerfal cure for the diftempers of man- 
kind. | 
He was accufed of having in his trea- 
tife indireétly attacked abfolute govern- 
ments, and of endeavouring to impair the 
fource of all legiflative and judicial 
power ; and he would certainly have been 
expofed to a profecution, had not the 
very fame Count Firmian taken him un- 
der his protection, and diflipated (to ufe 
Beccaria’s own words) the clouds which 
had thickened round his head. A confi- 
deration of thefe dangers alienated Bee- 
caria from the fudy of political and 
moral fubjeéts, and thenceforward he 
bent his mind wholly to cultivate meta- 
phyfics. Some articles in this kind may 
be feen in the periodical works which ape 
peared about that time, under the title of 
<¢ The Coffee-Houfe.’ Among thefe the 
fragment on Smells is thought to be the 
moft humorous. But the grand meta- 
phyfical work of Beccaria, which may 
be fet on the fame honourable fhelf with 
the Lockes and the Condillacs, was the 
“¢ Difquifitions on the Nature of Style.” 
His favourite pofition in thefe enquiries, 
is, that nature has mmplanted in every in- 
dividual an equal degree of genius for 
poetry and eloquence; that the art of | 
writing confifts, like all others, in the 
liberal execution of its proper rules; and 
that, if thefe rules are once underftood 
and practifed, all men would have it ig 
their power to write equally well. 
‘The Marquis Beccaria died in No- 
vember 1794. He was a great lover of 
learned, men, cordial in friendfhip, and 
a general Mzcenas to all Tiro’s in the 
career of literature. He had been charged 
with venality in the office of magiltracy 
which he held. His adverfaries repeated 
on this occafion, with much complacency, 
that Beccaria refembled Sir Francis Bacon 
in abilities and corruption. It is ne 
wonder if elevated charaéters, like his, 
are expofed more than others to the blatts 
of envy and detraction, 
PHILO-ITALICUS. 
