"and say, for Heaven's sake, how long you will

give them reason to laugh at the ridiculous figure you are making. This is my harangue; "it is short in words, but extensive in meaning." -So far, my dear Lord, we have no reason to censure the thoughts or expressions of the learned Encyclopedist; what follows is so profligate, that I would not transcribe it, if I were not sure, that you would join with me in condemning it. "to yourself, (he adds,) be cheerful, drink the "best wines, keep the gayest company, and should

"As

you be inclined to a tender passion, address "yourself to such women as make the least resist

ance; they are as amusing and as interesting as "others. One lives with them without anxiety, "and quits them without regret."-I want words, Diderot, to express the baseness, the folly, the brutality of this sentiment. I am no cynic, but as fond as any man at Paris of cheerful company, and of such pleasures as a man of virtue need not blush to enjoy; but if the philosophy of the French academicians be comprised in your advice to your friend Wilkes, keep it to yourself, and to such as you. I am of a different sect. He concludes his letter with some professions of regard, and with a recommendation of a young Frenchman, who told Wilkes some speeches of Diderot, to the Empress of Russia, which you shall hear at some other time. I am interrupted, and must leave you with reluctance till the morning.

An

An apology, I trust, will not be thought necessary for introducing that passage in Diderot's letter, which Mr. Jones reprobates in terms of asperity and indignation suitable to the rectitude of his own mind. His remarks upon it will serve to explain, if it be at all necessary, certain expressions in his letters, which may be thought to border upon a levity, that never entered into the composition of his character. His mind was never tainted with vice, nor was the morality of his conduct ever impeached. He valued the pleasures of society, and enjoyed them as long as they were innocent, whilst he detested the principles and practice of the debauchee and sensualist, and, like his favourite Hafez, could amuse his leisure hours with poetical compositions in praise of love or beauty, without sacrificing his health, his time, or his virtue. His censure of Diderot is equally a proof of his own abhorrence of vice, and of his anxiety to impress it strongly on the mind of his friend and late pupil *.

In

*Of Diderot, thus casually introduced to the notice of the reader, it may not be irrelevant to give a short account. His works I have never read, nor, from the character of the man, have any wish to peruse them. Diderot (I take my information from the Abbé Barruel) was one of the gang of conspirators against the Christian Religion. He not only professed Atheism, but made a boast of it, and inculcated it in his writings. He was invited to Russia, by the Empress Catharine, who at first admired his genius, but soon found sufficient reason in his conduct and principles to send him back to France.

There were moments in which this professed friend and admirer of Voltaire, notwithstanding his avowed, impiety, seems to have been compelled by the force of truth to pay homage to the New Testa

ment.

In 1778, Mr. Jones published a translation of the speeches of Isæus, in causes concerning the law of succession to property at Athens, with a prefatory discourse, notes critical and historical, and a commentary.

The works of Isus had long been neglected; the subject of them was dry, and his technical language, as Mr. Jones observes, was unintelligible to the herd of grammarians and philologers, by whom the old monuments of Grecian learning were saved from destruction, To rescue them from obscurity, and to present them to the student of our English laws in his native language, was a task which required the united qualifications of classical erudition and legal knowledge, and which he discharged with equal pleasure and success.

"

"There is no brauch of learning, from which a "student of the law may receive a more rational pleasure, or which seems more likely to prevent "his being disgusted with the dry elements of a very complicated science, than the history of the ment. An acquaintance found him one day explaining a chapter of it to his daughter, with all the apparent seriousness and energy of a believer. On expressing his surprise, Diderot replied, "I understand "your meaning; but after all, where is it possible to find better les"sons for her instruction?" The devils believe, and tremble.

At the close of a life of profligacy and impiety, consistent with the sentiments expressed in his letter to Wilkes, Diderot shewed some signs of contrition, and even went so far as to declare an intention of publicly recanting his errors. But the barbarity of his philosophic friends interfered to prevent it, and they resolved as far as they could, that he should die without repentance. Under the pretence that a change of air would promote his restoration to health, they secretly removed him into the country, and never left him until he expired, in July 1784.

rules

"rules and ordinances by which nations, eminent "for wisdom, and illustrious in arts, have regu. "lated their civil polity: nor is this the only fruit "that he may expect to reap from a general "knowledge of foreign laws, both ancient and "modern; for whilst he indulges the liberal curi"osity of a scholar in examining the customs and "institutions of men, whose works have yielded "him the highest delight, and whose actions have "raised his admiration, he will feel the satisfac"tion of a patriot, in observing the preference "due in most instances to the laws of his own

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country above those of all other states; or, if "his just prospects in life give him hopes of becoming a legislator, he may collect many useful

hints, for the improvement even of that fabric, "which his ancestors have erected with infinite "exertions of virtue and genius, but which, like "all human systems, will ever advance nearer to perfection, and ever fall short of it."

I quote the preceding observations from his prefatory discourse, which is written with upcommon elegance, and particularly interesting, not only from the information which it contains respecting the author whose works he illustrated, but for its critical remarks on the comparative merits of the Grecian orators, and for his dissertation on the Attic laws of succession, and the forms of pleading in the Athenian courts. It was no small credit to Mr. Jones to have successfully accomplished what Sir Matthew Hale, "to whose "learning

"learning and diligence the present age is no less "indebted, than his contemporaries were to his wis"dom and virtue," had unsuccessfully attempted.

The works of Isæus are dedicated to Earl Bathurst; and Mr. Jones takes occasion, in the epistle dedicatory, to inform the public, that, although he had received many signal marks of friendship from a number of illustrious persons, Lord Bathurst had been his greatest, his only benefactor; that, without any solicitation, or even request on his part, his Lordship gave him a substantial and permanent token of regard, rendered still more valuable by the obliging manner of giving it, and literally the sole fruit which he had gathered from an incessant course of very painful labour. He adds his further acknowledgements for the more extended intentions of his Lordship, although he had not then derived any benefit from them.

This was the only publication of Mr. Jones, in 1778; which, however it might tend to increase his reputation, did not perhaps much advance his professional success. He had however every reason to be satisfied with the proportion of business that fell to his share, during the circuits, which he regularly attended.

Mr. Jones had transmitted a copy of his translation to Edmund Burke; and the following letter contains his acknowledgement of the favour. The opinion of a great orator on any subject connected with that of his constant meditations, will not be read without interest.