treated with the fame freedom, by those who hall take upon them the Task of offering the World fome Animadverfions upon what he has advanc'd.

It were to be wifh'd for the fake of the Memory of fo learned a Man, that fome of his Friends had given notice, that these Tracts had not pafs'd his last Hand; but we shall at prefent defer faying any more of them, because they may probably make an Article in fome future Journal.

T

ARTICLE XXIV.

STATE of Learning.

AMSTERDAM.

THE Bookfellers here are fet about the Works of Rablais, with new Remarks, and the Cuts of Picart, so justly celebrated for their excellent Prints. In three Volumes in 4to, and fix in 8vo.

P. Brunell, the Wefteins, and Smith, Bookfellers in this City, P. Huffon, and C. Levier, Bookfellers likewife at the Hague, will very foon give out, if they have not done it already, to thofe who have fubfcrib'd for the fame, Le Corps Univerfel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens; or a Collection of all Treatifes, Vol. VII. and VIII. which are the two laft Volumes of that whole Work.

This will be the best Foundation for a general Modern History.

ROTTERDAM.

Goffe and 7. Neaulme have finish'd the Memoirs of the Academy Royal of Sciences, containing the Works adopted or taken in by this Academy, before

before it was reviv'd or renew'd in 1699. In

5 Vol. in 4to.

WE

LONDON.

E hear that the Reverend and very Learned Dr. Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity College in Cambridge, Chaplain in ordinary and Library-keeper to his Majefty, is preparing a new Edition of Milton's Paradife Loft. Corrected in many places, illuftrated and enriched with all the Paffages alluded to by that Poet, out of all the ancient Greek and Latin Clafficks, and other Authors.

Juft publish'd, the Gardener's Dictionary, containing, the Methods of cultivating and improving the Kitchen, Fruit, and Flower Garden; as alfo the Phyfick Garden, Wilderness, Confervatory, and Vineyard, according to the practice of the most experienced Gardeners of the prefent Age: Interfpers'd with the History of the Plants, the Character of each Genius, and the manner of the particular Species in Latin and English, and an Explanation of all the Terms used in Botany and Gardening; together with Accounts of the Nature and Ufe of Barometers, Thermometers, and Hygrometers, proper for Gardeners: And of the Origin, Caufes, and Nature of Meteors, and the particular influences of Air, Earth, Fire and Water upon Vegetation, according to the beft Natural Philofophers. By Philip Miller, F. R. S. and Gardener to the Botanick Garden at Chelsea.

Digna manet divina gloria ruris.

Printed

ways fway'd by a Female Hand, and the Women in general rul'd in all Things, &c.

The Topicks of the Converfation of their Men are very Womanifh, as defcrib'd by the Author: Their Converfation, fays he, was vaftly infipid, except when it turn'd upon Scandal; They wou'd frequently difcourfe of their Drefs, and the Difpofition of their Attire; fometimes indeed they wou'd argue, but then the Topic they ufually debated upon was to enquire, whether it were more graceful to let the Hair defcend in Ringlets upon the Shoulders, or to tye it up with a Ribbon; whether an artificial Red spread upon the Cheeks did not heighten Beauty; and if the Colours with which Nature paints the Face, is not more faint than those which Art has invented; whether a Complexion that inclines to brown is not more lovely in the Eyes of Women, than a Complexion that has too much of the Lilly and Rofe in it. Each of them pronounced upon thefe important Particulars as the Looking-glafs directed.

How far our modern Sparks are hafting to this Tafte, we leave the Reader to judge.

The Author then defcribes a Country whofe Inhabitants foon grow old, and enjoy but a very fhort Life.

A third, whofe Inhabitants, tho' fuperlatively deform'd and ugly, do nevertheless appear handfome in the Eyes of their Countrymen.

This Hint is fo very whimsical, and the Incidents fo Grotefque, that they cannot but delight all Readers who have a Tafte for Comedy a fpecimen whereof we fhall now give in the Defcription of the Emperor's Perfon.

The Emperor was look'd upon as one of the finest shap'd Princes that had ever fat upon the Throne

Throne of that Ifland; he was very tall and corpulent; his Shoulders were vastly broad, between which there arofe a perfectly convex hump that quite eclips'd his Shoulder blade, and fham'd all the Camels of his Train: Another natural protuberance he had before, fell down to his Stomach, and was almoft contiguous to his prominent Belly: This, in the Eyes of his Subjects, diffus'd a Majestic gravity over his whole Perfon. And a little lower; Before he left the Place, he fent our Captain his Picture fet with Diamonds, which was very like his Majefty, except that the Artist had flatter'd him a little by drawing his Protuberances a little larger than the Life.

Lastly, another Country whofe Natives call'd Letalifpons, are indulg'd a long Life, and the advantage of returning to the bloom of Youth, when they have attain'd to half their Years. In the Moral of this the Author intimates, how ridiculously the greatest part of Mankind act in valuing Life fo much, and taking fo little thought to prolong it.

A further sketch of the Work may be seen in the following Particulars.

That the Maxim which Men have imbib'd with regard to Modefty, is a very pernicious one. We generally imagine, fays our Author, that this Virtue is restrain'd wholly to the fair Sex, and upon that pretence Men fancy that the lofs of it, or the perfuading Women to banish it from their Mind, is no Reflection on their Ho,

nour.

In another Place where the very reverse happens, a Country where the Female Inhabitants enjoying a Superiority over the other Sex, act the fame part as the Men do amongst us, and

imitate