Ossian Collection > Gentleman's magazine, and historical chronicle > Volume 66, Part 2

o,2 L/....«/^.Charles'sPi/?«;v.-/)r.Knox.-^- Gibbon. [Nov
V „ ;-:,i„„ u^A actli»n1(L Hare rail
ceive, juft as one Ihould hold a cover
ing that inftant taken oflf the head of
any thing ^"ing below one, to avoid
tntangling it in the hair. The rays
of the nimbus reach to the imperial
^''Tris framed in a black frame, a ^lafs
before it, and a board, alas I behind
it ; into which board the worm js en-
tered. The firft time I faw it, it had
only injured a little .heblue veft ; but,
the fecond time, the «o« reprejed reptile
had made a Imall hoU through the
tnded thumb. I belought Mr. Hu.^
inftantly to r.k. away^the eld board,
wipe the back of the pi-^'^;" ™'^" ^ ' '^
Tld cambric handkerchief, get anew
board, and w.lh it infide and out w.ih
ftrongly camphorated fp.r.t of vv.ne,by
which me.ns'l have prefe.ved feveral
of my ^^vn piftures. I have no doubt
„yfclf but that the Ikerch of th>s very
curious little painting was taken on the
/^«/«/^, and finifhed as it IS at prefent
is ton as might be afterwards. I ad-
vifed Mrs.Hurft to have a- pant en-
graved from ,t by Sl.elton in the Hay-
Siarket, who has engraved the beauti-
ful print of that angel.c, that Heaven-
proteaed Prelate, the B.fhop of St.
& de Leon. I could vv.lh, that un-
Jer the print of that benevolent Prelate
an- account of his arrival at the amiable
\oneli fmuggler's houfe in Cornwall,
£lntV^duaion by the faid worthy
fmuggler to an excellent gentleman of
Uree fortune, his reception of his ho-
nourable French hoIl,had been engra-
ved under the print, were it only to
prove, even in thefe degenerate days,
FhatGoD "hath not lorgotien to be
;n>'s " " but ftill keepeth his pro-
^Trr- ••HEthat.z„«/.,r/* Ihall alfo
. Yours, &c. t. *-• '^'
Lines, written under a fmall Piflure
of king Charles L fuppofed to have
been (ketchcd whilft he was ftanding
on the Scaffold, offering up bis Ull
Prayer. They are written in golden
lette.s, in two columns, under the
Painting.
Cart ufitihilm fro IncorruftMe.
Looking to Jefus, fo our Sov'reip flood,
Pravino- (orthofe who thirfttd for his blood;
But'high in blifs, witii his celeftial crown,
Now with an eye of pity he looks down :
While fome attack his other hfe, his fame,
Luillow reviv'd, to blalt the royal name,
On farred Majefty prophanely treads,
Mad to let up the beait with many hea(.s,
New regicides, bad as the old, dare call
The Martyr's blood on their own heads to
fall ; ..
And, black as thofe who frocks and vifors
were, [e«'^^.=
Thefe bare-fac'd hangmen trample on his
Can it be fileat ? Can ii ceafe to cry ?
Such fiends forbid it in repofe to lie.
'Tis well the blood of God f peaks better
thingsj
Than that of Abel, or of murder'd Kings.
Mr. Urban, hcv. 27.
I HAVE juft read Dr. Knox's excel-
lent book, intituled, " Chnftian Phi-
lolbphv; and, as I hope and t.uftit
will be very generally read, I Avifh^to
r.fftr him, through the channel of y^ur
MifceUany, a hint upon one paff<ge m
it. In p. 342, fpe^king of Voltaire
and Rouffcau, he (ays :
<« Thefe men would have loved Chrifli-
anitv, and probably believed it, if it had
not been diitorted and disfigured by the
malignant paflions of angry polemical de-
fenders of it, who (liewed. their love of
Chrilt by hathtg their brother."
Univerfal charity is certainly one of
the ftrft precepts of the great Author '
of our Religion; but I really think,
that the name of a man, who could
wiiie " Le Taureau Blanc," and who
"has endeavoured to turn into ridicule
almoft the whole of the Old Tefta-
ment, ought not to be mentioned (but
with contempt) in a book which has
Religion for its fubjefit. I lincerely
wifli, therefore, that Dr. Knox, when-
ever he publilhes another edition rf
his book,- will entirely omit the pallage
1 have mentioned. W. M. B.
Gibbon's Memoirs of himself.
VOL. I. p- 170. Retif <^« la Bre-
tormc-., a volumioouj and original
writer cf French Novels, and corredlor
to a pdndng:office, tranfported an
entire volume "from his mind to the
prefs ; and his work was given to thte
public, without ever having b.-tu writ-
ten with a pen. " ....
lb. p. 171. As I was waiting in the
Managers' box, at Mr. Hallings's tual,
I enquired of the fliovt-hand writer
how many words a ready and rapid
orator might pronounce m an noor?
From 7000 to 75^°' '"'^s hts anUver.
The medium of 72.00 will afford 120
words in a minute, and z wo.ds m-
each lecond. But this coraputatiou
will only apply to the Rr.glini lanS"»^«,.
P. 809. 1. 7. r. *' on tlie i«/-ba.nk. ■