printed and manufcript, are as neceffary as they are impoffible to be attained in my prefent way "of life. However, to acquire a general infight into my fubject and refources, I read the life of Sir Walter Raleigh by Dr. Birch, his copious article "in the General Dictionary by the fame hand, and the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James the "First in Hume's Hiftory of England."

Beriton, January 1762,

(In a month's abfence from the Devizes.) "During this interval of repofe, I again turned my thoughts to Sir Walter Raleigh, and looked "more closely into my materials. I read the two "volumes in quarto of the Bacon Papers, published

by Dr. Birch; the Fragmenta Regalia of Sir "Robert Naunton, Mallet's Life of Lord Bacon, "and the political treatises of that great man in

the first volume of his works, with many of "his letters in the fecond; Sir William Monfon's "Naval Tracts, and the elaborate Life of Sir Walter "Raleigh, which Mr. Oldys has prefixed to the " beft edition of his Hiftory of the World. My "subject opens upon me, and in general improves upon a nearer prospect.

Beriton, July 26, 1762.

(During my fummer refidence.)

"I am afraid of being reduced to drop my hero; "but my time has not, however, been loft in the " research of his story, and of a memorable era of "our English annals. The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh,

by Oldys, is a very poor performance; a fervile "panegyric, or flat apology, tedioufly minute, and cr compofed in a dull and affected ftyle. Yet the "author was a man of diligence and learning, who "had read every thing relative to his subject, and "whofe ample collections are arranged with per "fpicuity and method. Excepting fome anecdotes cc lately revealed in the Sidney and Bacon Papers, "I know not what I should be able to add. My "ambition (exclufive of the uncertain merit of ftyle " and fentiment) must be confined to the hope of "giving a good abridgment of Oldys. I have even "the disappointment of finding fome parts of this CF copious work very dry and barren; and thefe parts are unluckily fome of the most characteristic: "Raleigh's colony of Virginia, his quarrels with "Effex, the true fecret of his confpiracy, and, above "all the detail of his private life, the most effential "and important to a biographer. My beft refource "would be in the circumjacent hiftory of the times, "and perhaps in fome digreffions artfully introduced, "like the fortunes of the Peripatetic philofophy in "the portrait of Lord Bacon. But the reigns of "Elizabeth and James the First are the periods of "English history, which have been the most variously "illuftrated and what new lights could I reflect on a fubject, which has exercised the accurate in

dustry of Birch, the lively and curious acuteness "of Walpole, the critical spirit of Hurd, the vigor❝ous sense of Mallet and Robertson, and the impartial philofophy of Hume? Could I even fur"mount thefe obftacles, I fhould fhrink with ter

"ror from the modern hiftory of England, where cc every character is a problem, and every reader a "friend or an enemy; where a writer is fuppofed "to hoift a flag of party, and is devoted to dam"nation by the adverse faction. Such would be my reception at home: and abroad, the hiftorian "of Raleigh must encounter an indifference far "more bitter than cenfure or reproach. The events "of his life are interefting; but his character is "ambiguous, his actions are obfcure, his writings

are English, and his fame is confined to the narrow "limits of our language and our ifland. I must "embrace a fafer and more extenfive theme.

"There is one which I fhould prefer to all others, "The hiftory of the liberty of the Swiss, of that in"dependence which a brave people refcued from "the Houfe of Auftria, defended against a Dauphin "of France, and finally fealed with the blood of "Charles of Burgundy. From fuch a theme, fo "full of public fpirit, of military glory, of examples " of virtue, of leffons of government, the dullest "ftranger would catch fire: what might not Ihope, "whofe talents, whatsoever they may be, would be "inflamed with the zeal of patriotifm. But the "materials of this hiftory are inacceffible to me, "faft locked in the obfcurity of an old barbarous "German dialect, of which I am totally ignorant, "and which I cannot refolve to learn for this fole "and peculiar purpose.

"I have another subject in view, which is the " contraft of the former, history: the one a poor, "warlike, virtuous republic, which emerges into

glory and freedom; the other a commonwealth, "foft, opulent, and corrupt; which, by just degrees, "is precipitated from the abuse to the lofs of her liberty: both lessons are, perhaps, equally inftruc"tive. This fecond fubject is, The Hiftory of the "Republic of Florence, under the Houfe of Medicis:

a period of one hundred and fifty years, which "rifes or defcends from the dregs of the Florentine "democracy, to the title and dominion of Cofmo "de Medicis in the Grand Duchy of Tufcany. I "might deduce a chain of revolutions not unworthy " of the pen of Vertot; fingular men, and fingular events; the Medicis four times expelled, and as " often recalled; and the Genius of Freedom reluc"tantly yielding to the arms of Charles V. and the "policy of Cofmo. The character and fate of "Savanerola, and the revival of arts and letters in

Italy, will be effentially connected with the eleva"tion of the family and the fall of the republic. The "Medicis (ftirps quafi fataliter nata ad inftauranda "vel fovenda ftudia (Lipfius ad Germanos & Gallos, "Epift. viii.) were illuftrated by the patronage of learning; and enthusiasm was the most formidable weapon of their adverfaries. On this fplendid "fubject I fhall most probably fix; but where, or "how will it be executed? I behold in a dark and < doubtful perspective."

СС

Res alta terrâ, & caligine merfus".

The youthful habits of the language and manners of France had left in my mind an ardent defire of revifiting the Continent on a larger and more liberal plan. According to the law of cuftom, and perhaps

of reafon, foreign travel completes the education of an English gentleman: my father had confented to my wish, but I was detained above four years by my rash engagement in the militia. I eagerly grafped the first moments of freedom: three or four weeks in Hampshire and London were employed in the preparations of my journey, and the farewel vifits of friendship and civility: my laft act in town was to applaud Mallet's new tragedy of Elvira "; a postchaife conveyed me to Dover, the packet to Boulogne, and fuch was my diligence, that I reached Paris on the 28th of January 1763, only thirty-fix days after the difbanding of the militia. Two or three years were loosely defined for the term of my abfence; and I was left at liberty to fpend that time in fuch places and in fuch a manner as was most agreeable to my taste and judgment.

In this first visit I paffed three months and a half, (January 28-May 9,) and a much longer space might have been agreeably filled, without any intercourfe with the natives. At home we are content to move in the daily round of pleasure and business; and a scene which is always present is supposed to be within our knowledge, or at least within our power. But in a foreign country, curiofity is our bufinefs and our pleasure; and the traveller, conscious of his ignorance, and covetous of his time, is diligent in the fearch and the view of every object that can deserve his attention. I devoted many hours of the morning to the circuit of Paris and the neighbourhood, to the vifit of churches and palaces confpicuous by their architecture, to the royal manufactures, collections of books and pictures, and all the various treasures