sider the vestigia sursùm ducentia, previously to incurring the penalty. The only alteration the French here have experienced, is the liberty of divorce, of which they make pretty free use.

In the interval which remained unoccupied by positive motion, I have been studious to gain the good graces of a celebrated Arabian beauty. The sex in this country is not remarkable for excessive coyness; but whether it be, that, as already observed, my suit has been renewed only at intervals, or that my cold hyperborean constitution is incapable of that ardent affection which a female so near the tropic might desire, my success has not been exactly equal to my hopes. Yet, as women are instructed to secure attachment by reserve, the want of facility in my mistress increases my perseverance. That your judgment may no longer waver as to my character for continence, this female is no other than Lingua Arabica.

Since my return from Upper Egypt, I have more than once had it in contemplation, when my voyage in Africa should be completed, to proceed to the peninsula of India, with a view of comparing the state of manners, remains of antiquity, &c. &c. in that country with those of Egypt; and, if possible, either in going or returning, to pass through Persia. But my progress

here is so slow, that I fear it will be impossible for me to devote so much time as would be necessary to the accomplishment of that design, without either giving up my voyage in Greece, which I cannot consent to do, or neglecting my affairs in

England, which, after a long absence, will require my superintendence. Add to which, in that part of the world I should again find myself a novice as to the language; and the society there instituted have means of information so superior to those of a private traveller, that the latter could not expect to do much. If, however, there are any questions relative to manners, geography, natural history, or antiquities, which you wish to have an answer to, a friend of mine, who is in the military line, is lately gone to reside there, who has desired me to furnish him with topics of inquiry, with a promise of using care and diligence in the solution of them. Believing him a man to be depended upon, and not thinking contemptuously of his understanding, though not a professed scholar, if there be any thing you wish to know, and your other avocations permit you to think of it, be kind enough to send me your communication, and I will take care that it shall reach its destination. I have myself too little information on the subject to be in a road to get more; not possessing (as Johnson says of himself in one of his letters to Hastings,) skill to ask proper questions, at least in this remote corner, equally destitute of the assistance of books and men.

In my last, which I hope you have received, I petitioned for a line from you to tell me what you thought of my Ammonian expedition. I then mentioned the period of a year and the place of direction, Smyrna; but believe that if you write early in 1794, and direct for Alexandria, where I must return, your letter will find me sooner. You

will secure its passage by sending it to Mr. Boylston of Bernard's Inn, or Messrs. Lee, Broad

street.

Nothing has happened here which can in any way excite your attention. The plague has not yet reached us; but famine has, during the last year, made great ravages, nor is its force yet mitigated. A double government, that of two beys with equal power, each seeking the other's destruction, serves, by its increased expenses and multiplied oppressions, to call to the mind of the aged the happiness they enjoyed under Ali Bey. Yet few complaints are uttered, and no resistance meditated the patience this of the philosopher, or of the ass? Our haranguers for peace and stability of government (or rather constitution) should come and live under that of Egypt. That constitution must have some stability which the Turkish conquerors found it impracticable in any great degree to alter; and that cannot be otherwise than peaceable in which scarcely any disturbance lasts three days in which the fall of the first bey is attended with as little popular commotion, or even popular thought, as that of a butcher or baker who uses false weights.

I am

Pardon me for this sheet of nonsense. lodged just over the fetid canal of Cairo, which is now stinking in all its glory; and you know foul air is not more favorable to the brain than to the lungs. What I have now written is a proof of it; but I will not mar by trying to mend.

MR. PINKERTON TO MR. GIBBON.*

London, July 23rd, 1793.

I hope you will pardon this intrusion, after our appointment at Mr. Nichols', which I was very sorry the extreme heat of the day constrained you to defer; as it would have given me the greatest of pleasures to have been known to you. Indeed I have expressed upon many occasions, that I regarded you as the first of living authors; and

* The letter here printed from Mr. Pinkerton to Mr. Gibbon is entirely copied from Lord Sheffield's publication of Mr. Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii. p. 670. In the same publication, the greater part of the next letter has already appeared. To them is subjoined the following note :-" It was Mr. Pinkerton's Inquiry into the History of Scotland, a book always mentioned by Mr. Gibbon with applause, which induced him to apply to its author to undertake the publication of this great national design, first formed by our eminent historian. Some of the objections in this letter were overcome: it was agreed that Mr. Cadell, if he chose, should be nominated publisher, &c. The final arrangement was, that Mr. Pinkerton's name should appear in the title-page as sole editor; but, that Mr. Gibbon should write a general preface to the work, and a particular preface to each volume, containing a review of the history and historians of each epoch: for which purpose, on his return to Lausanne, he was to peruse all the ancient English historians in a chronological course, a labor which he mentioned with pleasure as the last and most favorable occupation of his life-so vain are human hopes! Mr. Gibbon also agreed to write the prospectus, and to allow it to appear with his name; but he died on the day appointed for its publication; and with him all views of success in a design of such magnitude, which it was doubtful if even his name and co-operation could have carried into effect."

perhaps the only one in the world who has united genius, erudition, philosophy, eloquence- all in the most consummate degree. After this, you may judge how severe the disappointment was to me; and, as I hear that you will not be in town for some time, I hope you will forgive my impatience in writing to you.

It gave me extreme satisfaction to learn the proposed scheme of publishing our ancient historians, under the auspices of the greatest of modern historians, and whose name alone would insure success to the work, and occasion the revival of an important study, too much and too long neglected, in this otherwise scientific country. Your favorable mention of me as reviser, flattered me much, for "magnum laudari a laudatis."

I should not only exert all my industry in collating manuscripts, revising the press, &c. but should execute my labors con amore, as on the favorite object of long pursuit ; but all this would be nothing without your name, which is a tower of strength; and, as Mr. Nichols expressed his hope that you would consent to give your advice as to the authors employed and other important points, so he and I warmly join (and I hear the literary voice of present and future nations accord with ours,) in the request that you will allow your name to appear as superintending the work, or as the Latin, I believe, would express it, curante, &c. It is also hoped that you will spare a few hours to clothe the prospectus, upon which much depends, with your powerful eloquence, which, like a coat of mail, unites the greatest splendor with the