1807.] 
writer, he may perhaps rank with the 
best authors of the last century. He has 
however lett little behind him. His House 
of Medici, by which he is best known, 
is an uaaunelied work, aud consists of an 
undigested mass of materials, which he 
would have expanded into a regular uar- 
rative, had he lived. This want of me- 
thod, however, is compensated by the 
elegance of the style, the beauty of 
the ciassical allusions, and the taste 
the autior every where displays for the 
fine arts. A principal merit is in the 
short, but correct and pleasing accounts 
aban he gives of the hterati and vir- 
tuosi who ited during the time of the 
Medici, or were patronized by thei. 
Tenhovers tasic in painting and pvetry 
was exquisite; and his love for the arts, and 
his veneration for the great. men who 
made them flourish, have drawn him into 
digressions aud detached chapters out of 
In fact, the lnstorical is the: 
ailbouuds. . 
Teast cousiderable part of his work. This 
bas conipelied his transiator, Sir Richard 
Clayton, to make several additions in the 
body of the work for the purpose of con- 
necting the narrative, and to illustrate it 
by copious notes, Such as it is, however, 
this history would have bad many rea- 
ders and as many admirers, had it not 
been too near cotemporary with the 
elegant aud classical work of Mr. Roscoe. 
LEIBNITZ. ; 
Whena great man appears, he soon 
surpasses in excellence those whe» sur- 
round him. The thousands who com- 
pare their own insignificance with his 
colossal height, complain that nature 
should strip a whole generation to form 
the mind of one. But nature is just, 
she distributes to each individual the ne- 
cessary attainments by which he is en- 
abled to fulfil the career assigned him. 
To a chosen few alone she reserves the 
privilege of possessing uncommon taleats, 
and of enlightening mankind by their ex- 
ertions. To one she lays open the means 
ef explaining her phenomena ; to auo- 
ther she assigns the task of framing and 
expounding the laws which controul his 
fellow-creatures; to a third it is given to 
pourtray the customs of nations, and de- 
scribe the revolutions of empires: but 
each has generally pursued one track, 
and excelled only 1m one particular line. 
Aman at length arose, who dared lay 
claim to universality, whose head com- 
bined invention with method, and who 
geemed born to shew in their fall extent 
the powers of the human ound, That 
man was Leibnitz. 
Sodtvey-WV illian, Baron of Lejbaitz, 
Extracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
-anecdotes have been selected, 
573 
was born at Leipsic in 1646, and lost his 
father at a very early ave. The educa- 
tion of great men will be found in vene- 
ral to be more simple than that of men 
of ordinary capacity. Vo these a guide 
is necessary ; they receive no impression 
bat what i given them by a master s 
they have no bias but the commands of 
e tutor, while the boy of genius requires 
ouly to be taught the first principles of 
art. Lhe instinct of talent alone either 
leads him to the branch which nature 
has chalked out for him, or, ike Leibuitz, 
he grasps at every science. 
Vhis is not the place to compare him 
with Newton, or to enter into the me- 
rits of the metaphysiéal disputes which 
so lony kept these great men divided in 
opinion, without ‘le ssening the estcem 
each felt for the other. One or two 
indicative 
of the man, divested of his character as 
a philosopher. It has long heen a coni- 
plait, that men of great “literary merit 
seldom meet with rewards proportionate 
to their talents. It ig pleasing in some 
instances to ‘find the assertion unfound- 
ed. The transcendent genius of Leib- 
nitz early attracted and obtained the no- 
tice and patronage of en fie 
was born the subject of the Duke of Ha- 
nover, afterwards George I. of Mngland. 
From him he received honours and pen- 
sions, as also from the Emperor of Ger- 
many; besides many flattering offers from 
the court and literary societies of Prance. 
His commerce of letters was universal, 
and extended to the learned and the sci- 
entific of every country. Superior to the 
common jealousy of authorship, he enter- 
ed into every literary scheme; he fur- 
nished others with ideas; he animated 
their exertions, and stimulated their en- 
deavours. His reading was prodigious, 
embracing every department; and it was 
with hin a common observation, that 
there was no book however bad, but 
that something useful might be extract. 
ed from it.. With all this, neither pedan- 
try nor pride formed a part of his cha- 
racter. 
He was familiar and affable with men 
of every description. fe courted the so~ 
ciety of women, and i st their presence 
the philosopher was no longer seen. His 
temper was lively: easily roused into an- 
ger, but soon appeased?’ 
He was of a robust constitution, and 
seldom incommoded with any illness, ex- 
cept the gout. His wanner of living 
was singular, fle always took Ins meals 
alone; and these never at’ stated hours, 
bet just as 14 sulted his appetite or his 
stud es, 
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