1754 MATHEMATICAL QUESTION, &c. 25

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prince, and infulted the memory of his inurdered sovereign and generous patron. Winitanly fays, that in his old age he was made a judge, poffibly in confequence of his adulation to Henry IV. The following quotation from a fmall piece of his, called the Envious Man and the Mifer, may fhew, that he was not, as Winstanly fays, a refiner of our language, but, on the other hand, that poetry owes him

Of Jupiter thus. I find ywrite,

How, whilom, that he woulde wite,
Upon the plaintes, which he herde
Among the men, how that it farde,
As of her wronge condition
To do juftificacion,

And, for that caufe down he fent
An angel which aboute went,
That he the footh knowe maie.

Befides the works already mentioned,
our poet wrote the following, viz. Chro
nica tripartita de compunctione cordis ; cbro-
niçon Ricardi fecundi; ad Henricum quartum;
ad eundem, de laude pacis; de rege Henrico
quarto de pefte vitiorum; fcrutinium lucis į
de regimine principum ; de conjugii dignitate z

de amoris varietate.

ward III. and Richard II. being cotem-
porary with the famous Chaucer (whofe
life, together with his HEAD neatly en-
graved, we gave in our Magazine for
September laft, p. 398), He was much
efteemed by that father of English poetry,
as appears by his fubmitting his Troilus
and Creffida to his cenfure. He received A
his edocation in London, and (tudied
the law; but being poffeffed of an ample
fortune, he devoted him fel more to plea...few or no obligations...
fure and poetry than the bar; tho' he
feems not to have made any proficiency
in poetry, for his works are rather cool
tranflations than originals, and are al-
together deftitute of poetical fire. Bale
makes him equitem auratum, et poetam la B
reatum, but Winftanly fays he was nei-
ther laureated nor hederated, but only
rofated, having a chaplet of four rofes
about his head on his monumental flone,
in St. Mary Overy's church, Southwark.
He furvived Chaucer two years, and died
in the year 1402, and as he is faid to
have been born fome years before Chaucer,
fo he must have been near fourfcore years
of age. He was buried in the church
aforefaid, in the chapel of St. John,
where he founded a chauntry, and left
money for a mafs to be daily fung for
him, as alfo an obit with the church,
to be kept on Friday after the teaft of
St. Gregory. He lies under a tomb of.
ftone, with his image alfo of tone over
him, the hair of his head auburn, reaching
down to his fhoulders, but curling up,
and a fmall forked beard,
, on his
head a chaplet like a coronet of rofes,
an habit of purple, damasked down to
his feet, and a collar of gold about his
neck; under his feet the likeness of three
books which he compiled; the first named E
Speculum meditantis, written in French;
the fecond, Vox clamantis, in Latin; the
third, Confeffio amantis, in English. This
laft piece was printed by one Thomas
Berthalette, and by him dedicated to
king Henry VIII. Gower was held in
great efteem by king Richard II, to whom
he dedicated his Confeffio amantis, His be-
haviour, when the revolution under Hen F
ry IV. happened in England, fhews him
to be a man of no honour. He was under
the higheft obligations to Richard II. hád
been preferred, patronized and honoured
by him; yet no fooner did that unhappy
prince fall a facrifice to the policy of
Henry and the rage of rebellion, but he
worshipped the rifing fun, joined his in-G
tereft with the new king, and, tho' he
was then ftone-blind, and, as might na-
turally be imagined, too old to defire ei-
ther riches or power, yet he was capable
of the groffeft flattery to the reigning
January, 1754

A QUESTION. By A. LIQUIER.

D

118

B

1

K

Chs 201

4.50

3.47

Ch&

I

F

HAVE a field, as BDF, whose bases; BF and B1, I would know by fimple equality from the dimenfions given.

A little Piece of Mr. VOLTAIRE's having been lately trarflated and published here, que hall give our Readers the fift two Chapters of it, from thence they will fee, that it is a Satyr upon the Manners of the French, which at prefent our. Quality feem fo proud of imitating. The Piece is intitled, Babouc, or The World as it goes.

СНАР. "I к.

AMONGST the gent who prefide

over the empires of the world, Ithu riel is one of the first rank, and is appointed for the province of Upper-Afia. One morning he defcended at the abode of Babcuc, upon the banks of the river Oxus, and faid to him, Babouc, the follies

and

26

Extract from VOLTAIRE'S BABOUC.

and exceffes of the Perfians have drawn down our wrath; yefterday was held an affembly of the genii of Upper Afia, to determine if they fhould chaftife Perfepolis or destroy it. Go into that city, examine every thing, and then return and give me a faithful account of it; upon thy report I will refolve whether to correct the A city or exterminate it. But, my lord, an-" fwered Babouc, fubmiffively, I have never been in Perfia † ; I know nobody there. So much the better, faid the angel, thou wilt not be partial; heaven has given thee difcernment, which is a very fair present, and I add to it the gift of infpiring confidence: Go, obferve, liften, and fear nothing; thou shalt be every were well re

ceived.

Babouc mounted his camel, and departed with his fervants. After fome days he met the Perfian army near the plains of Sennaar, who were on the point of giving battle to the Indian army. He accofted a foldier whom he found at a

B

Jan.

tained the intereft of their refpe&ive mafters; the difpute grew warm. They took the field with an army of a million of foldiers on both fides. That army must be yearly recruited, with more than 400,000 men; murders, burnings, ruin and devaftations increafe: The univerfe fuffers, and the mifchief continues. Our first mi

nifter and the minifter of the Indies often. proteft, that they act only for the good of mankind, and at every proteftation fome city is deftroyed, and fome province ra. vaged.

The next day, upon a report which was fpread, that peace was about to be concluded, the generals were eager to give battle; a bloody one was fought. Babouc faw all the mistakes, all the abominations of it; he was witnefs to the behaviour of the principal Satrapi, who did all in their power to make their chief fight. He faw officers killed by their own troops, he faw foldiers difpatch their expiring comrades to get from them a few bloody rags; he Centered the hofpitals, whither they carried the wounded, the greatest part of whom died through the negligence of thofe very perfons whom the king of Perfia largely paid to affift them. Are these men, faid Babouc, or wild beafts? Ah! I fee plainly Perfepolis will be deftroyed.

diftance from the camp, and afked him
the caufe of the war: By all the gods,
faid the foldier, I know nothing of the
matter. It is not my business, my trade
is to kill and be killed, to get my bread;
it matters not whom I'ferve. I may pof-
fibly even to-morrow defert to the camp
of the Indians; for it is reported that
they give almost half a drachma of copper
a day to their foldiers more than we have D
in this curfed Perfan fervice: But if you
would know why we fight, even ask my
captain.

Babouc having made the foldier a small
prefent, entered the camp; he foon got
acquainted with the captain, and asked
him the fubject of the war. How can
you imagine that I know it, said the cap-
tain, and what fignifies the occafion of it
to me? I live two hundred leagues from
Perfepolis, I hear that war is declared, I
go, according to our cuftom, to feek pre-
ferment or death. But do not your com-
rades know more of it than you, faid Ba-
bouc? Not one of them, replied the offi-
cer, only our chief Satrapi knows exact-
ly the reafon why we cut each others F

throats.

Babouc, amazed, introduced himself to the generals, and became familiar with them. At last one of them informed him that the war, which for twenty years had lain Atia wafte, arofe originally from a quarrel between our eunuch and.one of the wives of the king of Perfia, and an G officer of the customs of the king of India. The difpute was about a duty which amounted to almoft the thirtieth part of a darique. The prime minifter of the Indies, and ours, with great dignity main

* The Frenca.

Entirely poffeffed with that thought, he went into the camp of the Indians; he was as well received there as in that of the Perfians, as had been foretold him; but faw, with horror, the fame disorders there as in the other camp. Ho, ho! faid he to himfelf, if the angel Ithuriel would exterminate the Perfians, the angel of the Indies must alfo deftroy the Indians. Having afterwards enquired more particularly of what passed in both the armies, he was informed of actions of generofity, greatnefs of mind, and humanity, which furprised and ravished him with delight; inexplicable mortals, cried he, how can you join to much baseness and grandeur with fo many virtues and

crimes ?

In the interim peace was declared, the chiefs on both fides, who had each of them

obtained victories, who had caufed the
blood of fo many of their fellow-crea-
tures to be fhed only for their own inte-
reft, returned to their own court to in-
trigue for gratuities. They celebrated the
peace by publick writings, which were
full of nothing but the return of virtue
and felicity upon earth. God be praised!
faid Babouc, Perfepolis will be the abode
of pure innocence, it will not be destroy-
ed as the genii intended.
Let us go
without delay to that capital of Afia.

CHAP

1754. Sowing and Culture of SALLAD SEEDS.

H

CHAP. II.

E came to that immenfe city through the ancient gate, which was of barbarous (Gothick) ftructure, and the dif gufting rufticity whereof was offenfive to the fight. All that part of the city favoured of the time in which it was built; A for notwithstanding the obstinacy of men in praifing the antique at the expence of the moderns, it must be owned that the first essays are always clumsy.

:

Babouc joined with a croud of perfons the most dirty and ugly of both fexes. That throng of people threw theinf.lves, with an air of ftupidity, into a dark and difmal enclosure *. By the continual B bumming, by the moving about, by the money which fome perfons gave to others. for the right of fitting down, he thought he was in a market where they fold strawchairs But foon obferving that several women kneeled down, and feemed to look very attentively fore- right, whilft they, at the fame time, caft fidelong looks C on the men, he perceived that he was in a temple. Harth, hoarfe, favage and diffonant voices made the vault refound with founds ill-articulated, which produced the fame effect as the voices of the Onagri, when they answer to the goat-herd's horn, that calls them home from the plains of the Pictavi. He stopped his ears, but he

27

fhew how jealous we ought to be of that method of imprifoning, which is but too frequent even in this country; for by this method a man may be imprisoned in the Tower, in fome fortrefs, or in a messenger's houfe, and detained during his whole life, without its being poffible for him to obtain the benefit of that ineftimable jewel, the babeas corpus act. This reftraint may be fometimes neceffary for a week or two; but furely, the time ought to be limited by act of parliament; for until this be done, our babeas corpus act cannot be faid to be complete.

A compendious and methodical Account of Seeds and Roots, herving their Kinds, Scafon of Sowing, Planting, and Culture, according to the New Stile, baving been lately printed for John Webb, Seedsman, in Bridge- ftreet, Westminster; as the Seafon is advancing when thefe Gifts of divine Providence are (as they annually do) coming into general Uje, for the Benefit, Health, and Convenience of Mankind, we shall give our Readers the following Extra&i from it, which relates-to Sallad Seeds.

ETTICE, the kinds, white cos, green

capuchin, imperial, cabbage, curl'd. Lettice is fown in February and March on a warm light foil and open fituation; thofe

was ready likewife to fhut his eyes and Dyou intend to stand to cabbage, fhould be

hold his nofe, when he faw workmen enter the temple with pickaxes and fhovels, who took up a large ftone, and threw on each fide the earth, from which exhaled a peftiferous fmell: They afterwards laid a dead body in the hole, and covered it with the ftone. What, cried Babouc! do these people bury their dead E in the place where they worship the divinity? Are their temples paved with dead carcafes? I am no longer furprised at those peftilential maladies which often lay Perfepolis waste. The rottennefs of the dead, and that of fo many of the living gathered together, and confined in little room in the fame place, is fufficient to poifon the terreftrial globe: What a filthy city is Perfepolis! I will advife Ithuriel to deftroy it.

F

With this piece there is another little piece published from the French, intitled, The Force of Friendship, which contains an account of three perfons unjustiy imprifoned in France, and detained for four G years, without the ufe of pen, ink, or paper, or any one to speak to them but their keepers. Of this piece we shall give no extract, becaufe the whole ought to be read by every British subject, as it may

hoed or planted out a foot apart; and the cos and other large lettices a foot and half apart; you may fow them earlier on warm borders or on a gentle hot bed; and they may be fown all the fummer months on a more fhady moist foil; they are sown in Auguft and September, to ftand the winter for ufe early in the fpring, and must be planted out under glaffes, or in frames, or under walls and warm expofures.

Endive, white curl'd, green curl'd. Endive is fown from April till Auguft, for a fucceffion, in a light rich foil, and open fituation; about a month after it is up, is planted out eight or ten inches apart; and when it is full grown, is tied up to blanch, or whiten, as it is wanted; the latter fowings fhould be planted out under walls and warm expofures, in a dry foil, and when they are well grown are drawn up and planted deep on the warm fides of ridges to blanch, as it is wanted, and will continue for ufe till April.

Celery, upright, celeriac. Celery is fown from March till June, in a light rich foil, and in about a month or fix weeks after it is up, the largest plants fhould be pricked out three or four inches apart; ad about fix weeks after, they fhould be drawn up, and the tops and roots pruned off, and D 2 planted *A Church.

28

Revolution in TALKING and HEARING.

planted into trenches three foot afunder, and nve or fix inches apart, and as it advances in height, muft be earthed up to blanch. The first plantings fhould be in rich meift fol, and will begin to be fit for ufe in Auguft, the latter plantings should be on a die: foil, and will continue for ufe till April. The celeriac or turnip A rooted, is commonly planted out on level ground, in a rich moift foil, and when they are well-grown, earthed up once to blanch.

Small fall d feeds, as garden creffes, white muftard, Sandwich radish, cole rape, green-top turnip, are fown from January til September, in allow drills, and cut in the feed leaf; the first fowings are on B gentle hot beds, or under g affes, and on warm borders under walls or hedges; in March, April, and May, they are sown in more open ground warmly expofed, aud in the fummer months on more shady places, and may be continued on hot beds the winter feafon.

Corn fallad, or lamb's lettice, and common chervil, are fown early in the spring, or in August, or September.

Common forrel and burnet, are sown in the fpring, and may be transplanted.

Purflain, green and golden. Purflain is fown in March on a gentle hot bed, or from April till July, on beds of light rich earth, in a warm fituation.

Spinage, round-leav'd, prickly-leav'd. D Spinage is fown from January till Septen ber the round fort is commonly fown for the fpring crops: The first fowing should be on a warm dry ground, and in February or March, in an open fitua-, tion, and as the feafon advances on a moitt foil, and thould be hoed out four or five inches apart, and thin'd for ufe: The E prickly fort is fown in Auguft or Sep. tember for ufe in the winter, and early in the spring.

Orach, or garden orach. Orach or French fuinage is fown in the fpring, and hoed out as fpinage.

Parfley, common, curl'd. Parfey is fowed in February, March or April, or till September, in beds or fhallow drills.

Finochia, or Italian fennel, is fown from the end of February till July, for a fucceffion, in light rich foil, in fhallow drills a foot and a half apart, and after it is up fhould be thin'd, fix inches apart, and when it is well-grown must be earthed up to blanch,

Taragon, or tarchon, is commonly raifed from flips planted in March or April, the leaves are used in small fallads, to give a migh flavour.

F

G

Jan

From the WORLD, Jan. 10.

Of TALKERS and HEARERS.

HAT an effay on hearers has not

given by the writers of

laft age, is to be accounted for from the fame reasons that the ancients have left us no treatise on tobacconifts and fugarplanters. The world is continually changing by the two great principles of revolution and difcovery; as these produce novelty, they furnith the basis of our speculations.

The pride of our ancestors diftinguished them from the vulgar, by the dignity of taciturnity. If we confult old pictures, we shall find (fuitable to the dreis of the times) the beard cut, and the features composed to that gravity and folemnity of afpect, which was to denote wifdom and importance. In that admirable play of Ben Johnson's, which has lately fo well entertained the town, Iinean, Every man in his bumour, a country fquire fets up for high breeding, hy refolving to be "proud, melancholy and gentlenian-like." In the man of brth or bufinefs, filence was the note of wildom and distinction; and the haughty peere's then, would no more vouchiafe to talk to her equals, than the wili now to her inferiors.

In those times, when talking was the province only of the vulgar or hireling, fools and jefters were the ufua! retainers in great families; but now fo total is the revolution, voices are become a mere drug, and will fetch no money at all, except in the fingle inftance of an election. Riches, birth and honours affert their privilege by the oppofite quality to filence; infomuch, that many of the great eftates, and manfion-houfes in this kingdom, feem at prefent to be held by the tenure of perpetual talking. Fools and jefters muit be ufelefs in families where the matter is no more afhamed of expofing his wit at his table to his guests and fervants, than his drunkennefs to his conAituents. This revolution has obtained to generally all over Europe, that at this day a littic dwarf of the king of Poland, who creeps out after dinner from under the trees of the deffert, and utters impertinences to every man at table, is talked of at other courts as a fingularity.

Happy was it for the poor talkers of thofe days that fo great a revolution was brought about by degrees; for tho' I can conceive it eafy enough to turn the wri ters at Conftantinople into printers, and believe it poffible to make a chimneyfweeper a miller, a tallow chandler a perfumer, a gamefter a politician, a fine

lady