39° 
quantity for the termination of the verfe ; 
and ufe them without fcruple after the /e/- 
quicefura in the third foot, and even clofe the 
.verfe with another word of the fame mea- 
fure, which the, Roman poets, I think, 
avoid. Such lines as the following are not 
uncommon in Homer: 
Aaodiany, Upsapeoro Suyatpay eidog aricave 
Chefount, 
Aprii 29, 1806 
Iam, Sir, your's, &c. 
E. CoGAan. 
—_——— 
To the Eaitor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, : 
KNOW that in a work like ycurs, 
novelty, in the articles tranimitted, is 
“a general requifite; and I am therefore 
apprehenfive, that a tranflation of a Ger- 
man correfpondence ifirty years old, may 
appear outof date. But as there are fome 
things that are valuable only becaufe they 
are new, there are others fo excellent that 
they are never cld. Cf this nature I 
hope you will judge the following extiacts 
to be, which, to the Englifh reader, are 
quite original, and in many points of view 
extremely curious and intereiting. I dare 
not add to anarticle, already fo long, by 
any elaborate remarks, and muft comprefs 
what I with to fuggeft to your readers 
within a few hints and queries. 1. Is not 
the usiverfal intolerance towards the Jews 
principally grounded on their fuppofed 
malignant hatred to all Chriitians, and 
the extreme unfociablenefs of their laws? 
And if fo, does not the philofophic libera- 
lity of Mendclfohn, aJew of acknowledged 
learning and repute among his brethren, 
furnifh an argument againft fuch intole- 
rance? 2. Do not the pbilvfophical reafon- 
ings of the Yew, to prove that, though 
he is perfuaded of the fallehood of Chrif- 
tianity, he believes it to be his duty zoz 
publicly to attack it; becaufe of its acc- 
dental moral benefits, apply with much 
greater force to the Infidel, who has no- 
thing to fupply the place of Chriftianity ? 
3. Mendeliohn is confidered by the Ger- 
. man critics as one of the clafiics of their 
Janguage, and he enjoyed the friendfhip of 
fome of the firft literati of his country, 
though he lived in the humble capacity of 
book:keeper. To his intimacy with Lef- 
fig we may attribute that authcr’s maf- 
terly didactic drama Nathan the iVife*; and 
* Why is this valuable production fo long 
withheld from the public? The excellent 
tranflator of Gothe’s Iphigenia, whofe ad- 
mirable criticiims in the Monthly Review 
bave, more than any othes circumfiance, pro- 
Correfpendence of Lavater and Mendel/ohn, 
“a better ? 
[June 1, 
other produ¢tions in favour of the Jews. 
‘Mendeliohn was ene of the reformers of 
German tafte, and is deemed a mafter in 
popular metaphyfics. That fuch a man 
fhould remain a Jew, is one of thofe faés 
which it is very uleful to know; for it 
teaches us to reverence authority lefs, and 
to be lefs ready to defpife. 4. If the ef- 
fexce of Chriftianity confits in a Jabit of 
humility tewards God, and of gocdwill 
towards men, was not M. M. in fpight of 
the zame, in fubftance a wery good Chrifti- 
an; and muft we not feek a long while 
with Drogenes’s lantern before we can find 
H.C. R. 
Frankfurt on the Main, 
Feb. 1801. 
Fobn Cafpar Lavater’s Dedication of Bon- 
nets Enquiry into the Evidences of Chrif- 
tianily, to Mr. Mofes Mexdelfckn, at 
Beritn. 
Revered Sir—I know not how better to 
exprefs my high efteem for your excellent 
writings, and ftill more excellent charac- 
ter, that of an If/raelite in whom there is zo 
guile ; nor how better torequite the plea- 
fure that I enjoyed in your interefting foci- 
ety, fome years fince, than by dedicating 
to you the beft philofophical Enguiry into 
the Evidence of Chriflianity, with which I 
am acquainted. I know your deep pe-. 
netration, your firm love of truth, your 
incorruptible impartiality, your tender re- 
gard for philofophy in general, and for 
Bonnet’s writings in particular. Nor fhall 
I ever forget the gentle modefty with 
which, remote as you are from Chriftiani- 
ty, you judged it; and the phile/ophical 
efteem which, in one of the happieft horrs — 
of my life, you teftified for the moral cha- 
raéter of its founder. Eternally imprint- 
ed as this is in my memery, I feel fo 
ftrongly its importance that I venture to 
intreat you—in the prefence of my and 
your Father and Creator, the God of Truth, 
to intreat you——not to perufe this work 
with ‘philofophical impartiality—for that 
you would do without my requefi—but 
publicly to refute it, in as far as the effen- 
tial arguments by which the fats of Chrif- 
tianity are fupported, appear to you ill- 
founded. But, as far as you find them 
juft, to do what prudence, love of truth, 
and integrity, command you to do; what 
Socrates would have done had he read this 
work, and found it unanfwerable. May 
moted in England the ftudy of German litera- 
ture, is reported to be the author of the print- 
ed, bur not yet published, Tranflation of this 
. 
piece. / 
‘ God 
