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tely for the happiness of mankind, infenfibility is the prevailing feature; and whilst fenfibility is often facrificed to ignorance and neglect, the boldly treads the ftage of life, and refts fecure in the shelter of a torpid conftitution.

As most characters have a leading feature formed from the operations of the governing paffions, fo families are frequently marked by the prevalence of fome one or other of the feveral affections. Thus the natural virtues

and vices of "parents commonly des fcend to their children. It ought therefore to be the talk of every parent to examine carefully their own character, to find out its propenfities, and to regulate the method of educa tion in fuch a manner as fhali guard particularly against thofe which they find cenfurable in themselves, unleis experience fhould prove to them, that their children have a contrary tendency.

Account of the Publication of the Life and Adventures of Rebinfin Crufor, by Daniel De Foe*:

IN

N April 1719, De Foe published the well known Life and furprifing Adventures of Robinson Crufoe. The reception was immediate and univerfal; and Taylor, who purchafed the manufcript after every bookfeller had refufed it, is faid to have gained a thousand pounds. If it be inquired by what charm it is that thefe furprifing Adventures fhould have inftantly pleafed, and always pleafed, it will be found, that few books have ever fo naturally mingled amusement with in'ftruction. The attention is fixed, either by the fimplicity of the narration, or by the variety of the incidents; the heart is amended by a vindication of the ways of God to man: and the understanding is informed, by various examples, how much utility ought to be preferred to ornament: the young are inftructea, while the old are amuf

ed.

Robinfon Crufoe had fcarcely drawn his canoe athore, when he was attacked by his old enemies, the favages. He was afailed first by The Life and ftrange Adventures of Mr D De F, of London, hofer, who has lived above fifty years by bimfelf in the kingdoms of North and

3 G VOL. XII. No. 72.

South Britain. In a dull dialogue be tween De Foe, Crufoe, and his nan Friday, our Author's life is larpooned, and his misfortunes ridicule. But lie who had been ftruck by apoplexy and who was now dife untenanced by power, was no fit object of an Eng lithman's fatire.

Our Author declares, when he was himself a writer of fatiric poetry, "that he never reproached any man for his private infirmities, for having his hoafe burnt, his fhips caft away, or his family ruin ed; nor had he ever lampooned any one, becaufe he could not pay his debts, or differed in judgment from him." Po Pope has been july cenfare for purfuing a vein of fafire extremely difficilar. And Pope placed De Foe with Tutchen, in The Danched, when our Author's infirmities were greater and his comfort lefs. He was again dffaulted in 1719, by An AC tle to D De F, the reputed Author of Robinfon Crufoe. Foe," fays the letter-writer, I have perufed your pleafant ftory of Robinfon Crufoe; and if the faults of it had extended no further than the frequent folecifms and incorr Anefs of tyle, improbabilities, and fometimes pof

* From Chalmers's Life of Daniel De Toe.

Mr

fibilities

fibilities, I had not given you the trouble of this Epistle." "Yet," faid Johnfon to Piazzi, "was there ever any thing written by mere man, that was withed longer by its readers, except Don Quixote, Robinson Crufoe, and the Pilgrim's Progrefs ?" This epiftolary critic, who renewed his angry attack when the fecond volume appeared, has all the dataefs, without the acumen, of Dennis, and all his malignity, without his purpose of reformation. The Life of Crufoe has paffed through innumerable editions, and has been tranflated into foreign languages, while the criticifm fuuk into oblivion.

De Foe fet the critics at defiance while he had the people on his fide. As a commercial fegilator he knew, that it is a rapid fale which is the great incentive and, in August 1719, he published a fecond volume of Sur prifing Adventures, with fimilar fuccefs. In hope of profit and of praife, he produced in August 1720, Serious Reflections during the Life of Robinfon Crufoe, with his Vifion of the Angelic World. He acknowledges that the prefent work is not merely the product of the two firft volumes, but the two first may rather be called the product of this: the fable is always made for the moral, not the mosal for the fable. He however did not advert, that inftruction must be infinuated rather than enforced. That this third volume, has more morality than fable, is the cause, I fear, that it has never been read with the fame avidity as the former two, or spoken of with the fame approbation. We all prefer amusement to inftruction; and he who would inculcate ufeful truths, must study to amufe, or he will offer his leffons to an auditory, neither numerous, nor attentive.

The tongue of detraction is feldom It has often been repeated, that De Foe had farreptitiously appropriated the papers of Alexander Sel. Birk, a Scotch mariner, who having

lived folitarily on the ifle of Juan Fer nandez, four years and four months, was relieved on the 2d of February 1708-9, by Captain Woodes Rogers in his cruizing voyage round the world But let no one draw inferences till the fact be firft afcertained. The adven tures of Selkirk had been thrown into the air, in 1712, for literary hawks to devour; and De Foe may have catched a common prey, which he converted to the ufes of his intelleft, and diftributed for the purposes of his interet. Thus he may have fairly acquired the fundamental incidest of Crufoe's life; but, he did not burrow the various events, the useful moralities, or the engaging style. Few men could write fuch a poem; and few Selkirks could imitate fo pathetic an original. It was the happiness of De Fce, that as many writers have fucceeded in relating enterprifes by land, he excelled in narrating adventures by fea, with fuch felicities of language, fuch attractive varieties, fach infiquative inftruction, as have feldom been equalled, but never furpaffed.

The whole ftory of Selkirk is told in Woodes Rogers's voyage, which he published in 1712, from p. 125 to 131, inclufive: whence it appears, that Selkirk had preferved no pen, ink, or paper, and had left his language; fo that he had no journal or papers, which he could communicate, or by others could be ftolen. There is an account of Selkirk in The Englishman, No. 26. The particular manner how Alexander Selkirk lived four years and four months, in the isle of Juan Fernandez, is related in Captain Cooke's voyage into the South Sea, which was published in 1712., And Selkirk's tale was told in the Memoirs of Literature, 5th vol. p. 118: fo that the world was fully poffeffed of Selkirk's ftory in 1712, feven years prior to the publication of Crufoe's adventures, Nor were his adventures fingular; for, Ringrofe mentions, i his account of Captain Sharp's voyage

a per

a person who had efcaped fingly from a fhip that had been wrecked on Juan Fernandez, aud who lived alone five years before he was relieved: And Dampier mentions a Miofquito Indian, who having been accidentally left on this island, subfited three years folitarily, till that voyager carried him off. From which of thefe De Foe borrowed his great incident, it is not eafy to difcover. In the preface to The Serious Reflections, he indeed fays, "That there is a man alive and well known, the actions of whofe life are the juft fubject of thefe volumes,

and to whom the moft part of the ftory directly alludes." This turns the fcale in favour of Selkirk. Nor, was the name of Crufoe wholly fictiti ous; for, among De Foe's contempo raries, John Dunton fpeaks of Timothy Crufoe, who was cailed the Golden Preacher, and was fo great a textuary, that he could pray two hours together in fcripture language; but, he was not arrived at perfection; as appeared by his floth in tying the conjugal koot: yet, his repentance was lincere and public, and I fear not but he is now glorified faint in heaven.

Letter from Rouffeau to Voltaire.

N every refpect, Sir, it is my duty to exprefs my gratitude to you; and, while I offered the rude outlines of my forrowful reveries, I thought not of making a prefent worthy of you, but of acquitting myfelf of an obligation by rendering the homage which we all owe to you as our chief. Senfible, befide, of the honour which you do my country, I participate in the gratitude of my fellow-citizens, and hope that it will augment in proportion to the profit they may derive from your precepts. Embellish the afylum you have chofen, enlight en a people worthy of your leffons, and do you, who fo well know how to difplay liberty and virtue, teach us to cultivate them in our actions as we adorn them in our writings. All who approach you ought to learn from you the road to fame and immortality.

a miracle fo great that it can be wrought only by God, and fo per nicious that it can be willed only by the devil Do not therefore ate tempt to walk on all-fours: to do which no man on earth is less quali fied. You teach men too effectually to ftand firmly not to remain erect yourfelf. I own the difgrace which attends on celebrated men of letters is great indeed, nor do I deny that the evils are numerous which are at tached to human nature, and which appear to be independant of our vain knowledge. Men have opened fo many fources of mifery to themselves that their happiness is but little increafed when they chance to escape a fingle misfortune. There are fecret connections, however, in the progreft of things which are unperceived by the vulgar, but which do not escape the thoughtful eye of the philofopher.

You fee, Sir, I do not afpire to the reputation of once more leading men It was neither Terence, Cicero, into the woods; not but that I re- Virgil, Seneca, nor Tacitus, who gret my part of the lofs of a state of caufed the crimes of the Romans and nature. With respect to yourself, the misfortunes of Rome. But withSir, to make you a favage would be out the flow and fecret poifon which 3 G 2 J

From Rouffeau's Confeffions, lately published.

infenfibly corrupted the moft vigo- are to receive it? The lame, fays rous government of which history has Montaigne, are ill calculated for boprof ved the remembrance, Cicero, dily exercife, or decrepid, fouls for Lucretius, Salluft, and fuch men lad the exercifes of the mind. Nevernever exified, or they had nevertheless, in this learned age, we fee written. The amiable age of Lælius none but the lame willing to teach and Terence infenfibly introduced others to walk. the brilliant period of Horace and Auguftus; and, in fine, the horrid epoch of Sencca and Nero, that of Tacitus and Domitian. A taste for the arts and sciences has its birth in a fccret vice, which it foon augments in its turn; and if it be true, that all human acquirements are pernicious to the fpecies, thofe of the mind and of knowledge, which increafe our pride and multiply our wanderings, will fooneft accelerate men's miffortunes. Yet, there neceflatily comes a time in which thofe acquirements are requifite to ftay the progrefs of evil: it is the feel which must remain in the wound, left, in removing it, the wounded fhould expire.

Ordinary men receive the writings of the learned to criticise them, and not to inftruct themselves. Never has the world fwarmed with fuch dwarfs in intellect; they croud the theatre, the coffee-houfcs refound with their fentences, the bookfellers falls are covered with their writings, and I hear the Orphan criticised, becaufe it is applauded, by a school-boy fo little capable of perceiving its defects that fcarcely can he feel any of its beauties.

Let us look for the firft fource of all the diforders in fociety, and we fhall find that the miseries of mankind proceed from error rather than ignorance; and that what we do not know is much lefs prejudicial to us than that which we think we understand. Now what furer means to run from error to error than the rage of knowing every thing? Had not men pretended to know that the earth does not turn on its axis, they had not punished Galileo, for having affirmed that it did wurn. If none but phi lofophers had claimed the title of philofopher, the Encyclopedie had experienced no perfecution. If an hundred defpicable beings had not afpired to fame, you would have been left to the peaceful enjoyment of your's, or at least you would have

As to myfelf, had I purfued my firft vocation, and neither read nor written, I fhould have been unqueftionally more happy; yet if letters could now be entirely effaced, I fhould be deprived of the only pleafure which is left me. It is in letters that I find a confolation for all my misfortunes: it is among their illut trious children that I tefte the delights of friendship, and learn to enjoy life and defpife death. To them I owe the little merit I have, and to them am I indebted for the honour of being known to you. But let us confult intereft in our concerns, and truth in our writings. Although there had to contend with none but adver need philofophers, hiftorians, and truly learned men to enlighten the world, and conduct its blind inhabitants, yet, if the wife Memnon has mot mifinformed me, I know nothing imore ridiculous than a nation of fages. Confefs, fir, if it be right that great minds fhould inftruct men, the tulgar ought to receive their precepts. If each takes upon himself to give inAruction, where will thofe be who

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faries worthy of you. Be not furprifed then thould you feel fome thorns which are infeparable from the flowers that adorin fuperior talents. The calumnies of your eremies are the followers of your triumph, as formerly fatyric acclamations were thofe of the Roman generals. It is the public eagernefs for your writings, which produces the thefts of which you complain; but the affimilating

them

them with others is not cafy, for neither iron nor lead unites with gold.

Permit me, in confideration of the intereft which I take in your repofe and our inftruction, to advise you to difdain yain clamours, by which it is lefs the defign to make you do ill than to divert you from producing good. The more you fhall be criticifed, the more muft you be admired; and a work of genius is a terrifying answer to weak reproaches. Who will dare to attribute books to you, which you have not written, while you continue to produce inimį. table works?

I am proud of your invitation, and if this winter leaves me fo ci cumftanced that I can vifit my country in the fring, I will avail myfelf of your goodnefs. But I would rather drink the water of your fountain, than the milk of your cows; and with refpect to the herbs of your orchard, I muft fear to find nothing there but the latos, which is only pafture for beafts, or the moli, which prevents men from becoming brutes. I am fincerely and refpectfully. &c.

J. J. ROUSSEAU, Citizen of Geneva.

An Account of the Difeafes peculiar to the Negroes in the Weft-Indies, and which are produced by their Slavery. By Benjamin Rufh, M. D.

THE
HE locked jaw, or, as it is called
among the planters, the jaw-fall,
is a very common difcafe among the
children of flaves, and carries off fo
many of them as evidently to affect
their population. After many enqui-
ries into the caufes of it, I am perfect-
ly fatisfied that it arifes from the he
and smoke of the cabins, in which the
children are born, and from their be-
ing expofed afterwards to the cool air.
2. The hipochondriafis, or, as it is
called in the French West Indies, the
"mal d'eftomac," is a very common
disease nmong the flaves. It occurs
foon after their importation, and often
proves fatal, with a train of painful and
diftreffing fymptoms which are igno
rantly afcribed to the effects of low
poifon taken by themfelves, or given
to them by others. This difeafe, with
all its terrible confequences, is occa-
fioned wholly by grief,, and therefore
ftands justly charged upon flavery.

3. Child-bearing, among the flaves in the Weft-Indies, is attended with peculiar danger and mortality. This is occafioned entirely by the women having their bodies injured by carry

fe,

ing burdens beyond their strength
when they are young, and in fome in-
fances, by the figure of the pel is be-
ing diftorted by thofe kicks to which
they are fo often expofed in car
from fudden gufts of paffion in their
mafters. I received this information
from Dr Taylor of the Inland of St
Kitts, who affured me at the fame
time, that the white women of the
land in general, had very fhort and
fafe labours, compared with the wo
men in European countries.

4. All the numerous chronic difeafes which arife from a feant or an excels of vegetable diet, are common among flaves in the Weft-In 'ics. This evil, I have been wel! informed, cennot be remedied, while flavery renfains upon its prefent footing; for very accurate calculations have made it exis dent, that the whole profit of a fugar eftate, as it is now conducted, is faved from the neceffary food and clothing of the flaves.

5. Under all thef difeafes, and the many other complicated evils which the flaves endure, we re told by their matters, they are the happiest people

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