then made fo great a progrefs, and the ftuffs of the Indies, tea, and the varnish of China had not fo extenfive a fale.

The Dutch had not chafed the Portuguese from the fpice islands, to make way for the settlement of a nation whose maritime power, character, and government rendered them formidable. They had, indeed, innumerable advantages over their rivals. Powerful colonies, a well ordered marine, important alliances, prodigious riches, an intimate knowledge of the country, and with the principles and details of trade; all these circumstances were wanting to the English; against whom they employed artifice and force. The English were on the point of being deftroyed, when fome moderate politicians fought in Europe, where the fire of war was not yet kindled, the means. of reconciling the two companies. A method the most ridiculous was adopted for this end.

The Dutch and English companies fubfcribed in 1619 a treaty, which declared, that the fpice iflands belonged in common to the two nations; that the English should have one third, and the Dutch two thirds of their produce; that each company fhould proportionally contribute to the defence of the islands, that a council of intelligent men chosen out of each company fhould regulate at Batavia all matters of commerce; that this treaty guarantied by their respective states fhould fubfift twenty years; and that if during this interval difputes fhould arife, they should be decided by the King of Great-Britain, and the States-General of the United Provinces. The political con ventions recorded in hiftory, offer not to our view a treaty. more extraordinary. It had the fate, which it merited.

• The Dutch fought an opportunity to annul it; and circumstances happened which favoured their views.

A Japonete in the fervice of a Hollander at Amboyna, had rendered himself fufpected by an indifcreet curiofity. He was feized, and confefied, that he had engaged with the foldiers of his nation to deliver up the fortress to the English. His confeffion was confirmed by that of his companions. The authors of the confpiracy, were taken, and did not deny it. An ignomious and cruel death punished the guilty. Such is the account given of this matter by the Dutch.

• The English have never discovered any thing in this accufation but the avidity of their rivals. They maintain, that it is abfurd to fuppofe that ten factors, and eleven foreign foldiers would form the project of poffeffing themselves of a place, defended by a garrifon of two hundred foldiers. If they had even been certain, it is faid, of fucceeding in fo extravagant an attempt, they yet would have been deterred from it, by the abfolute impoffibility there was, of their being able to defend themselves, against the forces, which would have haftened to

attack

pro

attack them on all fides. To render a treafon of this kind bable, other proofs are neceflary than confeffions extorted by torThefe confiderations, ftrengthened by others no les ftrong, render the confpiracy at Amboy na extremely fufpicious; and, in general, it is only confidered as a cover, employed to conceal the moft infatiable avarice.

The minifters of James I. and the nation, were fo entirely occupied with ecclefiaftical fubtilties, and with difcuffions concerning the rights of king and fubject, that they perceived not those outrages which fullied the English glory in the Eaft. This indifference and weakness was fucceeded by civil wars and convulfions; a fource of greater interruption to comMen engaged about what moft nearly interested them, forgot the Indies; and the company opprefled and difcouraged, had funk to nothing at the time of the violent death of Charles I.

merce.

• Cromwel, offended that the Dutch fhould favour the unfortunate family of Stuart, that they fhould furnish an asyJum to thofe iubjects of England whom he had profcribed; and that they affected the empire of the fea; fierce from fuccefs, and confcious of his power; was folicitous to draw to himself refpect, and to fatisfy his revenge. He declared war

against the States of Holland; and history has preferved no memorial of a maritime war more fruitful in obftinate engagements, or more illuftrious, from the capacity of the commanders and the courage of the troops. The English had the advantage, and they owed it to the conftruction of their vefiels, which the rest of Europe have fince imitated.

The Protector did not do all that was in his power for the Eaft India company. He contented himself with requiring from the States, that they thould not moleft the English in their trade; and that they fhould give compenfation to the defcendants of those who had fuffered at Amboyna. But no mention was made in the treaty, of the forts of which the Hollanders had violently difpoffeffed the English. It is true, that the reftitution of the ifle of Polerone was ftipulated; but the ufurpers, affifted by the English negociator, whom they had corrupted, found means to wave this article.

But notwithstanding the neglect with which the company was treated, they had no fooner procured from the Protector the renewal of their charter, and the certainty of afliftance from government, than they exerted themselves with a fuccessful vigour; and their courage grew with the extension of their rights and their power.'

On the whole, if there is any thing that deferves cenfure in the prefent valuable performance, it is the repetitions, in which the Author has ventured to indulge himfelf; and the obfcurity,

which arifes from his fometimes leaving a fubject in which he had made fome progrefs, and his reconfidering and difcuffing it at a future period. St.

ART. III.

Hiftoire de l'Academic Royale des Infcriptions et Belles Lettres, &c.— The Hiftory of the Royal Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Lettres, from the Year 1764 to the Year 1766 inclufive. Vols. 34, 35, continued.

I

N our last Appendix we gave an account of a few articles contained in the historical part of the thirty-fourth volume of this work; the other articles, in this department, none of which are very interefting, are upon the following fubjects, viz. the refpect which the Romans entertained for religion-the true extent and figure of the Lacus Afphaltites, or Dead Sea, by M. D'Anville-the neceffity of citations in works of erudition, and the manner in which the ancients introduced their quotations, by M. Burigny-on Marius Bishop of Avranches, author of the most ancient chronicle of France, by the Baron Zur-Lauben-on the two laft French tranflations of Virgil, viz. that by Abbè des Fontaines, and that published by Defaint and Saillant in 1751-on the Abbè de Foy's Notice des Diplomes, by the Baron Zur-Lauben.

The hiftorical part of the thirty-fourth volume is followed by the Eloges of Count D'Argenfon, Count Caylus, and M. Le Beau, jun. all of them curious and entertaining: but as the character of Count Caylus is known to almost all who either are, or pretend to be, judges of the fine arts, it cannot fail of proving agreeable to our Readers to learn fome of the principal circumitances of his life. We fhall therefore prefent them with the fubftance of what is contained in his Eloge.

Count Caylus was defcended from a very ancient and noble family; he was born at Paris in October 1692. The Count, his father, was particularly attentive to his fon's health, in his earliest years, and did every thing in his power to make his conftitution hardy and robuít; in which he perfectly fucceeded. The Countefs, his mother, who was nearly related to Madam Maintenon, and whofe amiable qualities rendered her the ornament of the court, was at great pains to improve his underftanding and his heart; and no perfon was better qualified for fuch a task. She infpired her fon with the love of truth, juftice, and generofity, and with the niceft fentiments of honour. The amiable qualities and talents of the mother appeared in the fon, but they appeared with a bold and military air: in his natural temper and difpofition he was gay and fprightly, had a taste for pleafure, a strong paffion for independence, and an invincible

averfion

averfion to the fervitude of a court, though unalterably attached to the perfon of his Prince.

After finishing his exercifes, he entered into the corps of the Mufquetaires, and in his firft campaign, in the year 1709, he diftinguished himself, by his valour, in fuch a manner, that the King commended him in the presence of all the court, and rewarded his merit with an enfigncy in the Gendarmerie. In 1711 he commanded a regiment of dragoons, which was called by his own name; and he fignalized himself at the head of it in Catalonia. In 1713 he was at the fiege of Fribourg, where he was expofed to imminent danger in the bloody attack of the covered way. Had he been difpofed to enter into the views of his family, the favour of Madam Maintenon, and his own perfonal merit, could not fail to have raised him to the highest honours; but the peace of Rastadt left him in a state of inactivity, ill fuited to his natural vivacity.

He travelled into Italy, and his curiofity was much excited by the wonders of that country, where antiquity, though buried, is ftill fruitful, and rifes fometimes from her tomb, to give birth to artifts, and, by a happy imitation, to produce new models. The eyes of the Count were not yet learned, but they were ftruck with the fight of fo many beauties, and foon became acquainted with them. After a year's abfence, he returned to Paris, with fo ftrong a paffion for travelling, and for antiquities, as induced him to quit the army.

About eight months after, he fet out for the Levant. When he arrived at Smyrna, he availed himself of a few days delay, and visited the ruins of Ephefus. It was in vain that the dangers attending a journey of this kind were reprefented to him. The formidable Caracayali had put himself at the head of a troop of robbers, and fpread confternation over all Natolia. But our Adventurer was fuperior to fear; and bethought himself of a ftratagem which fucceeded. Having procured a mean garb, and taking nothing with him that could attract attention, or tempt any robber, he put himself under the protection of two of Caracayali's band, who had come to Smyrna. He made an agreement with them; but they were to have no money till they returned. As they had an intereft in protecting and taking care of him, never were guides more faithful. They introduced him, with his interpreter, to their chief, who received him very graciously, and even affifted him in gratifying his curiofity. The chief informed him that, at no great distance, there were ruins worthy of being vifited, and accommodated him with a pair of fine Arabian horfes. The Count was not long in finding thefe ruins they were thofe of Colophon. He was particularly ftruck with the remains of a theatre, the feats of which being scooped out of a hill that looks towards the fea, the spec

tator,

tator, befide the pleasure of the representation, enjoyed a delightful profpe&t The next day he examined the fite of the ancient Ephefus.

I fhall fay nothing of the condition in which he found this city, and the famous temple of Diana; he has given an account of them himself in one of his memoirs, from which I shall beg leave to quote one paffage only. The fight of the ruins of Ephefus, and of the pillars which the Turks have cut, fawed, disfigured, and placed in their houses and mofques, without any order or regularity, produced the fame effect upon my mind, fays he, as the greatest number of the modern explanations of ancient monuments would produce upon the mind of a sensible inhabitant of ancient Greece, were he to come to life again.But, in my opinion, the cottages of the Turks, fo wretchedly built with the fineft ornaments of ancient architecture, afford a more ftriking reprefentation of thofe compofitions, both in verfe and profe, in which the rich inventions of the ancients are mutilated, difplaced, and disfigured by an aukward and abfurd imitation.

He paffed the ftreights of the Dardanelles, to indulge himself with a view of thole plains, which make fo rich, and beautiful an appearance in Homer's poems. He did not expect to meet with any veftiges of ancient Ilium; but he flattered himself with the hopes of walking on the banks of the Xanthus and the Simois: thefe rivers, however, had difappeared. The vallies of Mount Ida, drenched with the blood of fo many heroes, were now a dreary wafte, fcarce affording nourishment to a few puny oaks, whole branches crept upon the ground, and died almoft as foon as they appeared.

The

Here he put an end to his refearches in the Levant. tenderness of a mother, who was conftantly foliciting his return, checked his curiofity, and he returned to his native country in February 1717. When he had finifhed his travels, and became fedentary, his mind was no lefs active, for he applied himself to mufic, drawing, and painting. He wrote too, but it was only for the amufement of his friends; he had fire and fpirit, but did not aim at correctness or elegance of style. In order to judge of the works of art, he had that tafte, that inftinct fuperior to ftudy, furer than reafoning, and more rapid than reflection; his first coup d'œil feldom betrayed him, and he feized, at one glance, the beauties and defects of every piece.

In 1731, he was received into the Royal Academy of painting and fculpture, as an Honoraire-Amateur. Count Caylus, who loved to realize titles, fpared neither his labour, nor his credit, nor his fortune, to inftruct, affift, and animate the artists. He wrote the lives of the most celebrated painters and engravers that have done honour to this illuftrious Academy; and in order

to