860 Lxviracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. [May 1, 
the young man frankly acknowledged to 
him, that he had been three days seeking 
for an exordium to a discourse, and that 
he was now quite in despair, at not 
having been able to find any thing that 
pleased him, Is it not, returned Florus, 
smiling, because you wish to do better 
than youcan? There is certainly a great 
deal of presumption in this difficult dis- 
position. We reject every thing, because 
we think every thing unworthy of us; 
and we act in nearly the same manner 
as those ladies, who never think that 
their portraits resemble them, because 
they think themselves more beautiful 
than any that ean be drawn for them. 
Tt often happens, that from self-love, and 
not from want of knowledge, we have so 
many faults in our works, Poets and 
painters, particularly, are liable to have 
too much affection for their own produc- 
tions; and to alter any of them, is to 
them a most painful operation. A poet 
will clearly see that a thought which 
struck him, in the warmth of his enthu- 
siasm, is not just, or that it does not suit 
his subject: but there will be something 
brilliant in it which pleases him, and 
which makes him desire to preserve it. He 
wavers, reason puts the pen in his hand 
to suppress it; but he is immediately 
softened, and self-love easily obtains 
grace for it. Seneca has preserved an 
example of an author’s tenderness in the 
person of Ovid, Some of his friends 
having advised him to repress in his 
works, two or three of his verses, which 
did not do him much credit, he consented 
to it upon condition, that they should 
find no fault with three verses that he was 
going to write, privately begging them at 
the same time to write down those verses 
they wished to be omitted. Having 
agreed to these conditions, he found that 
the three verses his friends had con- 
demned, were the very same for which 
he had obtained grace; and he declared 
to them, says Seneca, that he was not 
ignorant of their defects; but that he 
could not dislhke them. I am astonished 
that a man who burnt the fifteen books 
of the Metamorphoses, with the design to 
suppress them, could be so difficult for 
three verses. 
The eyes of the vulgar frequently see 
_what escapes those of the learned. It is 
said of Malherbe, that he consulted the 
ear of an old domestic; the same thing 
is related of Molitre. Every one knows 
the estecm of Apelies for the judgment 
cf the people, which he evinced ‘by ex- 
posing his finest works to their criticisms, 
4 
and by sometimes adopting their opi- 
nions, Annibal Caracci often declared, 
that he had learnt to judge of two pic- 
tares of the martyrdom of St. Andrew, 
which Albano and Domenichino had 
painted to rival each other, from an old 
woman, who stopped for sometime with 
her daughter to sit before the picture of 
Domenichino, and who afterwards passed 
silently before that of Albano. The 
excellent works are those which imme- 
diately strike, and which are directed to 
the heart. 
THE FATHERS ATTACKED. 
Barbeyrac, the learned translator of 
Puffendorf, attacked in his preface the 
blind veneration paid by the Catholics to 
the Fathers. This of course roused the 
indignation of the Romish church. Pere 
Ceillier published a voluminous defence 
of these primitive Christians, but which 
in fact is a continued invective against 
the Protestants! Barbeyrac retorted 
with great ingenuity by his “ Traité de la 
Morale des Peres de |’Eglise,” a curious 
work, in which, not satisfied with having 
attacked their talents, he even aims at 
their morals. In achapter to each, he 
amasses all the ridiculous things he can 
collect against them. . 
Justin Martyr, in order to shew the 
beauty of the cross, says that nothing is 
done in this world without a cross ; that 
the masts and yards of a ship, and the 
shape of most instruments, have all 
crosses; and adds, that what most dis- 
tinguishes man from the brute creation 
is, that in an elevated posture he can ex- 
tend his arms, so as to form across with 
his body. 
_ Ireneus, highly approves of. thievery, 
in justifying the Israelites robbing the 
Egyptians; for, (says he) whatever we 
acquire, though unjustly, if we employ it 
in the service of the Lord, we are jus- 
tified. 
Of Clement, of Alexandria, our author 
has produced a copious fund of absur- 
dities. Clement tediously refutes those 
who, because the title of children is given 
to Christians, would infer that there was 
any thing childish in the gospel. This 
father has a hundred such puerile dis- 
tinctions and dissertations; he makes 
every part of the Scriptures mystical. 
He has poured out declamations with 
respect to mauners, and considers the 
use of looking-glasses as idolatry, be- 
cause Nioses forbids the making of any 
wmage! "Vinis will be sufficient. 
Tertullian condemns ail theatrical 
exhibitions, because, says he, the acéor’s 
bushias 
