dice for or against arifes at first view, and if not difcouraged, and the judgment for fome time fufpended, takes fuch firm hold as not to be easily eradicated. There is the greater reafon for this caution, as many a man gives the lie to his face; when either a man, instead of being angry, and exafperated at his own looks, or envying thofe of others, applies himself affiduoufly to the culture of his mind, and procuring beauties more lafting or ornamental; or when one, instead of improving the mind, and making it a proper inhabitant for a beautiful frame beftowed by nature, gives the loose to his paffions, and thereby difgraces the outward beauty of his body; in either of these cafes phyfiognomy is fallacious : of the firft of thefe Socrates was a remarkable inftance; vide Spect. No. 86. Of the fecond Alcibiades, the favourite difciple of Socrates, was a no lefs remarkable inftance for tho' bleffed by nature with the most beautiful figure, and the best capacity, he was yet given up to the moft irregular courses, notwithstanding the assistance of his friend Socrates. Martial's epigram on this fubject is worth transcribing. Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine lafus, Rem magnam præftas, Zoile, fi bonus es. Thy Thy head and beard are of a diff'rent dye; No branch of natural knowledge has been more abused than this of phyfiognomy: it was taken up, and profeffed as a science along with aftrology, by ignorant pretenders, in the first ages of the revival of learning, to make a fhew of fuperior knowledge, and caufe the rabble ftare. But both are now happily exploded. A very ingenious author on this fubject, Baptifta Porta, founds his fpeculations on the fuppofition, that as a man hath in the mould. of his face a remote likeness to that of an ox, a fheep, a lion, an hog,or any other creature; he hath the fame refemblance in the frame of his mind, and is fubject to those paffions which are predominant in the creature that appears in his countenance. Accordingly he gives the prints of feveral faces that are of a different mould, and, by a little overcharging the likeness, difcovers the figures of these feveral kinds of brutal faces in human features. Page 166. How there fhould be any,&c.] The inftances are indeed few, but fome there are very remarkable, recorded by an tiquity, tiquity, as that betwixt King Antiochus and one. Antemon a plebeian of Syria, who were fo like that Laodice the King's widow, by pretending this man was the King, concealed his death, till fhe had fettled a fucceffor according to her mind; betwixt Cn. Pompey and Vibius the orator; betwixt C. Plancus and Rubrius the Stage-player; Caffius Severus the orator, and one Mirmello; and that betwixt M. Meffala Cenforius, and one Menogenes. Vide Plin. hift. nat. lib. 7. c. 11. But the most extraordinary inftance of this fimilitude of faces is the cafe of Martin Guerre and Arnauld de Tilh, recorded in the Gallick reports: The latter taking advantage of the absence of the former, and having made himself acquainted with the most minute circumftances of his life, thro' a confidence of this furprising refemblance, fo impofed himself not only on the relations of Martin Guerre, but even upon his wife, that he was not fufpected for feveral years; and when at length, from fome untoward circumstances, he fell under fufpicion of being an impoftor, he chearfully fubmitted to a regular profecution; in which he behaved with fuch addrefs, that, of near 150 witneffes examined on the affair, between 30 and 40 depofed he was the true Martin Guerre, among whom were four fifters of Martins, and two of their their husbands, and of the remainder of the witnesses, 60 and upwards declared the resemblance between the perfons was fo strong, that it was fimply impoffible to affirm with certainty whether the accused was the true Martin or not. In fhort Arnauld de Tilh, for a long time, puzzled the parliament of Tholoufe, even after the true Martin Guerre was returned, and they appeared together face to face. Page 171. * What a Βατραχομυομαχία, &c.] In Lucian's book, de judicio vocalium, there is a long pleading before the vowels as judges, by Sigma complaining of the injuries done to it by Tau, which had thruft it out of many words, and taken poffeffion of its place. This has been very happily imitated by the Spectator, No. 78. and 80. in the perfons of Who, Which and That. Page 172. *But their tongues are sharper than Altius's razor.] Actius, the Augur, admonishing Tarquinius Prifcus to revere the gods, and their immediate fervant, the Augur; Tarquin, to ridicule him, afked him, if what he had conceived was poffible? to which the Augur anfwering it was,he defired him to cut a whetstone with a razor; which the Augur actually performed. Vide Flor. A a a lib: lib. 1. cap. 5. and Liv. lib. 1. who tell the story differently. P. 172. It is not mere zeal to learning, &c.] Our author's obfervation has been verified, fince his time, in the perfon of Louis XIV. who, at a great expence,maintained the most eminent poets, panegyrifts and hiftorians, to found forth his praises, and hand them down to pofterity; and the effect was answerable to the defign. On the other hand, the pride of the literati has not blushed to afcribe a great part of the honour of their heroes to their own pens: Ignotus effet Lucilius,nifi eum epiftola Seneca illuftrarent. Laudibus Cafareis plus Virgilius &Varus,Lucanufque adjecerunt, quam immenfum illud erarium quo urbem & orbem fpoliavit. Nemo prudentiam Ithaci, aut Pelida vires agnofceret, nifi eas Homerus divino publicaffet ingenio: unde nihil mihi videtur confultius, viro ad gloriam properanti, fidelium favore fcriptorum. Joan Sarisb. Pol. Horace's ode to Cenforinus is founded upon this thought, lib. 4. od. 8. where he exprefly prefers the poet's pen to the heroical deeds themselves. Neque fi charte fileant, quod bene feceris Mercedem tuleris. And a few lines after, Dignum laude virum mufa vetat moři: And |