424 
may, in fome cafes, be worth a whole 
life of refle&tion and furmife. Befides, 
when it is confidered what.a vaft multi- 
tude negle& the opportunity of laying by 
part of their gains, even when they have 
the power, and thus depend upon that af- 
fiftance when overtaken by diteate or age, 
which ought to go to thofe who never 
had fuch opportunities, it becomes a mat- 
ter of ferious moment and importance. 
As fociety is conftituted, no improvement 
can take place in any of its claffes, but 
every other will mote or lefs remotely par 
take of the benefit. In fhort, feund po- 
licy, felf-intereft, or whatever motive may 
more generally impel to action, all forci- 
bly urge the propriety of fome portion of 
talent and ability, wherever they may be 
found, being voluntarily facrificed to the 
public good. Will it be faid to fayour 
of an illiberal contraéted fpirit, to recom- 
mend even the reduction of indifcriminate 
public charities, to throw more weight 
into the {cale here brought forward to no- 
tice? It is not the mere gift of money 
which confiitutes benevolence; it 1s the 
ardent defire to increafe the happinefs of 
_ our fellow creatures ; and how fhall this 
‘defire be ftimulated and gratified, but by 
keeping within the limits of our own 
knowledge? If I give to the multitude, 
the donation may be abufed or mitapplied ; 
it may fofter indolence and vice; the pe- 
tulant and clamorous may be the principal 
fharers, while modeft merit may go un- 
relieved; it may tend to fteel my breaft 
againft individual diftrefs, from the reflec- 
ticn that I have already difcharged my 
duty; the bleffing at beft is precarious, 
and, with refpeét to my/elf, the efect-is 
leffened or deftroyed, becaufe I cannot 
trace the advantages. But where I know 
fterling worth under the garb of poverty, 
it is the firft call of every principle of hu- 
manity to give that cafe the preference. 
A little good effectually done is infinitely 
valuable in comparifonwith half meafures 
more widely extended’; and inftead of 
leaving to others the diftribution of our 
bounty, how much more godlike to follow 
that refined maxim of philanthropy : ** My 
own hands fhall be my executors !” 
Mr. Editor, I can fayno more. © If the 
pian I wilh to promote is attended to, I 
ft all have my reward ; if it is not, I have 
nothing left but the unavailing regret, that 
my fituation does not afford me the means 
of making the attempt without depending 
on the afliftance of others. 
Birm. April x8. 
eae eR BL 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T was with extreme regret, I learned 
from p. 159, of the Monthly Maga- 
a) 
Wiour Sai pe. os 
- Caftle of Anet. 
[June i, 
zine, that the celebrated Caftle of Anet is 
about to be demolifhed ; but the lovers of 
ancient magnificence may be, in fume de- 
gree, confoled for this event, when they 
are informed, that a view of it is to be 
found in the fecond volume of Androuet’s 
‘* Plus excellens Baftimens de France,” 
Paris, 1579, folio. ‘They will alfo find 
in this work the beautiful fountain, fo al- 
lufive to the name of Henry’s beloved 
miftrefs, and the chapel he built for her, 
and where fhe lies buried. There is a 
medal of this fingular woman, infcribed on 
one fide, DIANA DVX VALENTINO- 
RVM CLARISSIMA, and on the re- 
verfey OMNIVM VICTOREM VICI, 
with the Duchiels, in the character of Di-_ 
ana, trampling on the God of Love. 
Louis Brezé, Grand Serefchal of Nor- 
mandy, her hufband, died at Anet, the 
13th of July, 1531, and was buried in the 
cathedral of Rouen, with the following 
epitaph, which fhews that Diana had more 
of the Ephefan matron about her, than 
of the chafte goddefs whofe name alone the 
was intitled to. 
Hoc Lodoice tibi pofuit Brezze fepuichrum 
Pictonis amiflo meeita Diana vire. 
Indivulfa tibi quondam et fid‘flima conjux 
Ut fuit in thalamo, fic erit in tumulo. 
The fumptuous manfion of Anet, 
amoneft ir various treafures, had to boait 
of perhaps the completeft colletien of 
ancient romances in manufcript, that were 
ever affembled in one fpor. Several of 
thefe are noticed in Dufre(noy’sCatalogue, 
and many of them had certainly been 
taken from the king’s own library; 4 
few, with the royal.arms, found their way 
into England fhortly before the French re- 
volution, and now, contribute to enrich the 
libraries of fome of our amateurs of curi- 
ous books. . 
Let me be allowed this opportunity of 
endéavouring to fatisfy an inquiry which 
I think has been lately made in the 
Monthly Magazine (though I cannot find 
the place) relating to the line in Milton’s 
Lycidas, 
‘6 Looks towards Namancos and Bayona’s 
hold.” 
I conceive Namancos muft have been 
intended for the ancient Numantia, near 
Tarragona, on the coaft of Catalonia, and 
that Milton has given a Spanifh termina- 
tion to the word. I am aware that this 
place was on the oppofite fide to Bayona 5 
but let it be remembered that they are no 
common eyes which loak upon the {cene 5 
that they are no lefs than thofe of an arch- 
angel. : 
D.. Fe 
May 15, 1800 
