255 
in my power, and all conditions ceafe and are 
of no effe&; for I am fent by my Sultan to 
relieve the place; accordingly, I have again 
hoifted the red flag. Could the inhabitants 
_and their commander a& aceording to their 
own good liking, they would afluredly keep 
their word; for never yet did a Turk break a 
capitulation. Therefore, as to what concerns 
the hoftages, I hope wifh confidence that your 
great name and heroic courage, fo famed over- 
all the wide world, will oblige you to grant 
them their liberty.” AssAN Pacua, 
Captain of the Captains of the Sultan. 
And Count Orloff fent back the hoftages. 
P.S. The humanity of the Ruffian Chief, 
and the frank and open conduét of the Turk- 
ifh, as here exemplified, will inftruct us, that 
thofe nations whom we are pleafed to call 
barbarous, are not fo. 
a 
BOSWELL AND JOHNSON. 
IT was a conftant cuftom with Mr. 
BoswE tu to frequent the coffee-houfes, 
from wherice he would repair to the 
Doétor’s lodgings and report to him the 
news of the day. In one of thefe morn- 
ing rambles, he had the mortification to 
perufe feveral {currilous paragraphs di- 
rected againft.a late publication of his 
friend. | He purchafed the papers, and 
hurrying to the Doétor’s apartment ac- 
quainted him with the circumftance.— 
<¢ Well, Sir,’ faid the Doétor, ‘* and 
what have they faid refpeéting me ?”” Mr. 
Bofwell inflantly proceeded to the perufal 
of the paragraphs in queftion. The 
Doctor, having heard him to an end, re- 
plied peevifhly, ** So, Sir, this is what 
they fay with regard to myfelf.. Do you 
know what is faid.of you?’? Mr. Bof- 
well having anfwered im the negative, 
‘¢ Why then, I will tell you, Sir,’’re- 
fumed the Doctor. <* They fay that I am 
a mad dog, and that you are a tz cannifier 
tied to my tail.” 
—a ( 
Eritarn on the late Pore ; by Mr. Dents, 
of Vienna, (the German tranflator of Offian’ s 
Pocizs. ) 
Papa Pius, patria‘Cafenas, Angelus ante 
Brafchius, ingenio vividus, ore decens, 
Cafibus adverfis in ferum exercitus evum, 
Jure Peregrinus difius Apottolicus *, 
Poft varios tandem vitezeque vizeque labores 
Offa Valentino liquit in exilio. 
Perdita fub Sextis femper, teftante Poeta +; 
Fiec quoque fub Sexto perdita Roma fuit. 
Sed ne crede Pii culpa periifle, Viator ! 
Prodidit heu Romam temporis impietas! 

=~ 

* In Prophetia di€ta Malachiz Ep. Hibern. 
( Denis. 
+ Acc. Sinc, Sannazarius in Epigram. in 
Aldexandr.: VI. Denis. 
From the Port-Folio of a Man of Letters. 
[April x, 
COINCIDENCES, 
‘I. Hume and Dryden. 
Tue fly farcafm of Hume againft the 
clergy feems quite in charaGter, but is not 
original. He fays, note (i) to the firk 
volume, ‘¢ The ambition of the clergy can 
often be fatisfied only by promoting ighe- 
rance and fuperftition, and implicit faith, 
and pious frauds; and having got what 
Archimedes only wanted (namely, another 
world on which he could fix his engine) no 
wonder they move this world at their 
pleaiure.”” 
Dorax to the Murti. Dryden's Doz 
Sebaftian. — } 
** Content you with monopolizing heav’n 
And let this little hanging ball alone, 
‘For, give you buta foot of confcience there, 
And you, like Archimedes, tofs the globe.” 
II. Gray: 
Every one recolleéts Gray’s capital con- 
ceit concerning our Englifh Homer’s 
blindnefs. 
He paffed the flaming bounds of fpace and 
time: 
The living throne, the fapphire blaze 
Where angels tremble while they gaze, 
He faw 5 but, blafted with excefs of light, 
Clofed his eyes in endlefs night, 
Fobnfon contents himfelf with remark- 
ing that, if we fuppofe the blindnefs 
cauled by ftudy in the formation of. his 
poem, this account is poetically true, and 
happily imagined. 
T am furprifed that Johnfon’s marked 
difefteem for Gray did not prompt him to 
the recollection that the fame fuppofition 
had. been made concerning the Grecian 
Homer. , . , 
Pope, in his Prefatory Eflay on Ho- 
mer, relates, from Hermias, that when 
Homer refolved to write ** of Achilles, he 
had an- exceeding defire to fill his mind _ 
with a. juft'idea of fo glorious’a hero: 
wherefore, having paid all due honours at 
his tomb, he entreats that he may obtain 
a fight of him. The hero grants his poet's 
petition, and rifes in a glorious fuit of ar- 
mour, which caft fo infufferable a fplen- 
dour that Homer loft his eyes, while he 
‘gazed for the enlargement of his notions.” 
And Pope adds, that if this be any thing 
more than a mere fable, one would be apt 
to imagine it infinuated his contracting a 
blindnefs by too igtenfe application while 
he wrote his d/ad. 
ACCOUNT 
