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Roman Law. I fhall leave our traveller to make his remarks on this laborious performance, which may ferve to give the true fenfe of the paffages which have been mutilated by Tribonian. I fhall only remark, that Leibnitz cannot have the honour of this as a new idea; for the celebrated Cujacius, in explaining the Roman Lar to his pupils, collected all the extracts from Ulpian, from Paul, and from Calus, that are difperfed thro' the Corpus uris.

Leibnitz then talked of the trouble he had been at in perfecting the cataJogue of the rich library of Wolfenbutel, which is famous, particularly for the manufcripts it contains. He had made out a catalogue of the books and manufcripts arranged in the order of the dates, which he confidered as the true bafis of a literary hiftory, as by that means it may be know wn what each age, or each year produced, and what particular ftudy was more or lefs cultivated at any part cular time.

The converfation at this time was terminated by remarks on the travels into Greece by Wheeler, Smith and other learned Englishmen, in fearch of the monument emaining in that ancient native country of the fine arts. Leibnitz obferved that these travellers ought no to have confined themselves to the difcovery of medals, or fragments of inferiptions, the explication of which is almost always conjectural, and rarely useful; but that they ought to have been indefatigable in the fearch atter nufcripts, many of which myft ftill exist, and would throw light on the as of the Eastern Empire, of which we have only a very imperfect idea from the books called Bafilica.

complaining of the little affiftance be received from the historical records of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, and he expreffed a great inclinat on to fee a valuable manufcript relating to Wurtzburg, in the poffeflion of M. de Uffenbach; but our good magiftrate remembering the refufal that had been made him with regard to the Electoral Library, was not rafh in promifing; I kept myfe'f on my guard, fays he, and offered with circumfpection, for I knew well that M. Leibnitz was w IIing to receive all, but to communicate nothing."

The difcourfe then turning upon ancient geography, and upen Cellarius, Leibnitz told an anecdote of that learned man which he had from himself, namely that he never meant to carry his geography of the middle ages further than Charlemagne. Accullomed as he was to the pure and elegant file of the good authors of antiquity, he could not refolve to plunge into the barbarifms of later writers and re

cords.

It is needlefs to detail the many queftions made by d'Uffenbach, with great addrefs, in order to induce Leib nitz to fhew him the Hanoverian library. It is a matter of little moment to pofterity to be informed of the curiofity of a magiftrate of Frankfort to fee that collection of books. But it is interefting to know, that amidft the vaft occupations of Le baitz, and at a time when he was fixty years of age, he was propofing to collect, under the title of Cimelia Philofophica, fome manufcripts of Defcartes, ot Pafcal, and even of Campanella, to which he meant to add a few pieces more ancient, and little known, which be expected from Fabricius.

A few days afterwards, our travel- This literary avarice, this paffion ler returned to Leibnitz to take leave, for reading and enjoying exclufively when there was a renewal of civilities the rare monuments of antiquity, was, and learned difcourfes. The philofo- in Leibnitz, the effect of a towering pher fon turned the converfation up- talent, which inclined him equally to op himself and his fecond volume of all the fciences, and which enabled The Scriptores rerum Brunfwicenfium, him as it were to create anew thofe

ideas which did not originally occur to himself.

Thus far from d'Uffenbach. The following particulars are taken from a curious enough collection which Nemeitz, a counsellor to the Prince of Waldec, published in 1739 under a very fingular title, a literal tranflation of which is in the note below*. Leibnitz did too much honour to Germany to be omitted in the literary adverfaria of a German. In the fit Theets of his collection Nemeitz dedicates a chapter to this great man, in which he defends him on the score of religion, as Dom of Vienna, the Benedictine, did Montaigne on the fame fubject, and as a mafter of arts in Greifswald made the apology for Defcartes in a short differtation maintained in the University of that city in the year 1705t.

Nemeitz informs us, among other things, that the unhappy play on the words Leibnitz glaubt nichts, (Leibnitz believes nothing) which had fuch a difadvantageous influence on the opinion formed with regard to that philofopher's faith, proceeded from a minister of Hanover, called Heinemann, with whom Leibnitz had been fo imprudent as to difpure, without being convinced or pretending to be convinced. The Chevalier Jaucourt, who alfo relates the above words, which afterwards became a fort of proverb, feems to attribute them to the Jefuits of Vienna, who had long flattered themselves with the hopes of gaining Leibnitz over to the Church of Rome, from which however at bottom he was not very far removed,

Nemeitz, in the courfe of his de" fence, adds in a note feveral particulars with regard to Leibnitz, fome of which are known. At the age of 50 he intended to marry, but the perfon he had fixed on having defired time to confiier of his propofais. Leibnitz alfo took time to confider, and altered his mind. Some have attributed to him a natural fon called William Dinninger whom he employed as his clerk according to the author of the Jewish levers, and as a fervant according to others. Nemeitz doubts of this cir. cumftance, and his reafon is, that he never heard it mentioned at Hanover, where Leibnitz did not want cenfurers and even enemies.

The

On the evening in which this great man died, Dr Seip, one of the phyficians of the Prince of Waldeck, who had become acquainted with Leibnitz the preceding fummer at the waters of Pyrmont, was called to him rather as a friend than in the capacity of a phyfician; for though Leibniz had fome confidence in phyfic, yet he made yery little ufe of it himself. doctor felt that his pule was very weak, his hands cold like lead, and that there were all the fymptoms of an approaching cold fweat: he there fore informed him of his dange: ; but Leibnitz replied, that his hands were 'feldom warmer, and tha if any thing extraordinary fhould happen, he would apply to his common remedy which would fet him to rights. The phyfi cian however, having perfuaded him to make ufe of a more inftant and niore efficacious medicine, went away to have his prefcription made up. But

he

Rational Thoughts of J. C. N. (Joachim Chriftopher Nemeitz) on all forts of subjects hiftorical, critical, and moral, with various remarks. Francfort 1739,40.

In this apology we are informed that one Revius, author of a book called Cartefiomania, and who had known Defcartes at Deventer, affures us that he never faw any other books on his table but a French tranflation of Ovid's Metamorphofes, and a work of Kepler's. The fame Revius exhorting Defcartes to think seriously on the Proteftant Religion, was anfwered by the Philofopher, "I am of the fame religion with the king" but this not fatisfying Revius, "I am, added he, of the fame religion with my nurse," d this was all he could get from him

he had fcarcely got the length of the apothecary's fhop when a perfon came to inform him that Leibnitz was no more. Death furprised him at the moment when he was preparing to fet about his ufual occupation. There were found upon his bed, and upon the chairs that furrounded it, feveral letters and fome books; among others Barclay's Argenis, an allegorical romance, fo highly eft mated formerly. This performance Leibnitz ufed frequently to read for the fake of its latinity.

The discovery of this romance at fuch a time made a great noife among the clergy of those days. The particular opinions that Leibnitz had entertained on certain points of theology might perhaps have been pardoned had he died with a crucifix at his bedfide. But all that he had ever written in favour of religion was forgot ten when it was known that he had

died reading a romance. Nemeitz takes pains to remove the bad impreffion that this circumftance is productive of, and observes that, after all, the Argenis is not a dangerous book.

Fontenelle, in the beautiful eulogium which he dedicates to the memory of Leibnitz, fays, that after his death an immenfe fum of money was found in his coffers, the fight of which fo affected his fole heir, the wife of a clergyman at Probstheida, a parish near Leipzig, that he died foon after. If this laft circumftance has not been invented to embellish the recital, it proves a great degree of avidity, efpecially in the wife of a curate. Nemeitz does not mention this accident, but he informs us that M. Lofer (this woman's hufband, and nephew to Leibnitz) carried away from Hanover from 14 to 16,000 crowns, including medals of gold and filver.

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Ths was the heritage of a man of letters who had, according to the ingenious expreffion of Fontenelle, fpent fo much by negligence. It was in vain that he was pillaged by his do

meftics; his receipts always exceeded his expenditure. He had penfions from five different fovereigns, and con. fiderable penfions they were. That which he had from the Czar amounted to a thousand ducats, according to the Literary, historical Dictionary, compofed in German by M. Joecher, a profeffor at Leipzig. In thort we may judge, of the revenue of Leibnitz by the incredible fums he laid out on the execution of his arithmetical machine, which he never finished. It coft him, accoding to the fame Dictionary, more than four and twenty thousand rix-dollars, no doubt on ac. count of the great number of workmen he daily employed on that fingle object, about which he was buried the greatest part of forty years. It is now preferved at Gottingen in the obfervatory of the Univerfity, and is much nearer perfection, according to Profeffor Putter, than is commonly imagined.

After

But to return to Nemeitz. having told us that the library of the philofopher, went wholly to increase that of the Elector," I might here," fays he, "communicate to my reades many circumftances of his life, fuch, for inftance, as the private meetings that were held at the house of the Electrefs Dowager, with that princess, the Duke Antony Ulrich of Wolfenbutel, the celebrated Abbé Molanus, and Leibnitz; as likewife of the fealts, that were there given in the manner of the ancient Ron aus, and feveral other curious particulars; but the refpect that individuals owe to Princes reftrains me."

This exceffive delicacy in M. Nemeitz is certainly very much to be regretted, and I think he might have been pardoned, though he had not carried his refpect fo very far. Neither the fuppers in the manner of the ancients, nor the conferences with the Abbé of Lockum, Molanus) who, by the by, did not die poor

more

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more than Leibnitz, could have given offence to the illustrious houfe of Brunfwick, had the account of them been published. We know, on the contrary, that Duke Ulrich (the fame who endeavoured at the peace of Ryfwick, to preferve a proteftant canonry in the Cathedral of Strafburg, and who turned Catholic in 1710,) engaged Molinus and Leibnitz to open an epiftolary correfpondence with fome of the most celebrated theologians of the Roman Catholic Church, in order to bring about, if poffible, a union with the Proteflants. The materials of this grand negocia tion, which unfortunately did not fucceed, are in the poffeffion of Mr Dutens.

made them divert themfelves before him, at the plays and games accommodated to their age; while he, indolently funk in his eafy chair, was attentive to their little fports, liftened to their innocent prattle, and traced the dawnings of reafon and the workings of nature in their young minds; and when he had fufficiently enjoyed this amufing spectacle, he would give them a few fweetmeats and fend them away.

"This

We fhall finish these anecdotes, by a paffage from the Otium Hannoveranum, of Feller, a man who was well acquainted with Leibnitz, in order to juftify the portrait drawn of him above by d' Uffenbach. great man," fays he," was too much To fupply the defect of those anec- in love with fame, and too much endotes, which the exceffive difcr.tion gaged in other occupations, to per of M. Nemeitz has deprived us of, form the duty of a hiftorian. He, we fhall here relate one that he has did not willingly allow any one to preferved in the fixth part of his mif- enter the room in which he kept his cellanies, as it delineates a characterif books, left the fources whence he tic feature in the portrait of Leibnitz. drew his materials fhould be discoverThis philofopher took great delight ed; for he himself once faid to me, to fee young children at particular that the ftudies of learned men might times; he ufed frequently to fend for, be judged of by a fight of their a number of them of both fexes, and books."

On feveral Natural Phenomena explained in a new Manner *.

THE

HE chemifts have found all the influence of the modern difcoverles in the explanation of meteors: but, more occupied to further the progrefs of chemistry, than to apply them to philofophy, they have hazarded conjectures only, and left to philofophers the care of applying them. No philofopher has hitherto been known to attempt converting thefe erFors into proofs fupported by facts and experiments. We even fee, in our own days, a number of philofophers who are attached to their old errors,

who confidently fupport doctrines which their authors would blush to acknowledge, if they could be witneffes of the progrefs of chemistry. This paper is intended to apply the lights of modern chemiftry to the phenomena of nature; and particularly to thofe the atmosphere prefents during a ftorm..

1. The compofition and decompo fition of water is no longer a problem. The fine experiments of Meffieurs Cavendish and Lavoifier have fatisfied the greater part of chemists

02

By the Abbe Libes, Profeffor of Philofophy in the Royal College of Thoulouse.

on that article; and if any one has doubts on that important trath, the experime its of Melfis. Van Troftwig and Deiman, published in November 1786, are well calculated to difpel them; we may, therefore, establish it as an inconteftible fact, that water is compofed of gaz oxiginé, or vital air, and of gaz hydrogens, or inflammable air; that by a mixture of these two airs, in the proportion of fix to one, there refults water whenever this mixture is inflamed by electric matter, and that confequently we may look on vital air, inflammable air, and elecwic matter, as three elements which concur in the formation of wa

ter.

2. That folar heat, united with central heat, will, in certain circumftances, operate to the decompofition of water, and the quantity of water décomposed must always augment in direct proportion to the intentity of the folar neat. No chemist regards this affertion as problematical. The

celebrated Prieftley afferts that the central heat will alone, in fome cafes, produce that effect.

3. The fummer feafon is the most fubject to ftorms. They are always preceded by exceffive heat; from whence it follows that thofe days which are incommoded by ftorms are marked by the compofition of a confiderable quantity of vital air and inflammable air, arifing from the decompofition of water.

4. It is well known that vital air forms one fourth of the atmosphere, that that alone is proper for refpiration, and that confequently the atmofphere would foon lofe all its falubrity if it was not furnished with fome means to repair its loffes. The moft fertile of thefe means, probably, during the heats of the fummer, is, the decompofition of water. In this decompofition the atmosphere finds wherewithal to indemnify itself for the facrifices it makes in favour of animals.

Anecdote.

T is furprifing that the French hif

of Queen Elifabeth of Auftria, wife of Charks IX. one of the moft virtuous Princeffes that ever reigned in France, one of the handsomest women of her time, whofe virtues furpaffed her beauty, and the more to be admired, as thefe qualities rarely met in one perfon at the court in which the lived. Speaking but little, and that little in the Spanish congue, fhe was at no pains to improve nerfelf in the French, as if he had forefeen that the had but a thort while to live in that kingdom. Devout from principle and without oftentation fhe often fpent whole nights in prayer. The fatal night of St Bartholomew having exceedingly diftreffed her, it was her firit care to ask if the king knew what was doing, And when he was told that

the horrid Tragedy was acted by his

at the foot of a crucifix to implore the mercy of God upon the cruel king and his guilty subjects.

After the death of Charles IX. fhe retired to Vienna, where he died in 1592 at the age of 38. During her reign the was the love and the admiration of the Fa:ilians, and the king her husband, who had all the confideration for her of which he was worthy, ufed to call her his Saint.

One day as fome people were relating to Henry IV. the high opinion that Charles entertained of his wife: "Ventre Saint Gris! cried the king; "if I were Pope I would never re

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quite better evidence for the canoni"fation of a woman, than the opinion " of her husband."

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