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tain. the whole ground ofthe: ancient temple) is about -215 toises-in length and 172 ia breadth, and consequently about one Roman mile, or eight stadia in circumference. But if we deduct the waste ground allotted for the court of the Gentiles, the temple itself formed a square, each side of which was equal to 500 Hebrew cubits, or 142 French toises. .

(Ac curious dissertation. of M. d’ Anville. Sur Ancienne Jérusalem, Paris 1747. pp. 75.. -It.is now out of print, and was lent me by that geographer himself.)

: Primarh ‘Westmonasteriensi postmodum Oxoniensi studio traditus eram. Ingulphi Historia, p. 73. in tom. 1. Rerum Anglicarum Script. a Fell et Gale. Oxon. 1684. Some have doubted, but the. editors have found this passage in all MSS. (Gibson's Cambden, Vol. I. PD. 305.) Ingulphus boasts of his proficiency i in Aristotle and. Tully’ s Rhetoric, yet in 1048 Aristotle was unknown; Oxford lay in ruins, had neither | cathedral nor monastery to which the studies were confined. ‘The Divinity Lectures of Robert Pulein in the abbey of Oseney (1129-—1135)1 consider as the punctum saliens of the University. Cambden, ubi supn. Nicholson, (English Library, p. 150—152.) is free, learned,and lively. :

| Matthew Paris, Hist. Major, L Lond. 1684, gives the first historic titles of the Oxford, studies.

- In 1209 the clerks applied to artes libérales they lodged three or four together in hospitia hired. Provoked by an act of injustice recesserunt ab Oxonià ad tria millia clericorum, quam magistri, quam discipuli, ita quod nec unus ex omni Universitate remansit. Some went to Cambridge, others to Reading: villani Oxoniæ vacuam reliquerunt | p. 191.

In 1252, convocat scholarium universitate que , de diversis mundi

partibus illic studuit, &c. p. 740.-

In 1257, statuta Universitatis antiqua et approbata, Oxon. ‘Univers. schola secund. Ecclesiæ. p. 811. | . The series of Chancellors of the University begins à in 1288 Ayliffe’s

Hist. of Oxford. Vol. II. p. 278.

« The first charter of Henry III. is in 1244, (Appendix, P- 6) but it supposes the previous state of the re University. .

In

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In 1109 Joffrid, Abbot of Croyland, ‘sent a colony of Monks, who opened ‘public schools ‘at Cambridge’ of Grammar, Logic; Rhetoric; and Theology after the manner studii Aurelianensis. : Ex. isto fonte videmus totam Angliam factam frugiferam per plurimos magistros et doctores de Cantabrigia exeuntes. (Petri Blesenis Continuatio Ingulphi in Script. Rerum Anglicar. tom. i. p. 114, 115. He died circa 1200.) Curious but spurious: Frater Terricus (frater is probably a mendicant friar) acutissimus sophista, logicam Aristotelis juxta Porphyrii et Averoiz isagogas et commenta, adolescentioribus tradidit. But Averroes was not born till 1181. He interpreted Aristotle 1187 —1192, and died after 1200. D’Herbelot, p- 715. Bayle, tom. i. p. 384—91. Saxius places him at 1198. hd

Eri2yreres de rivos twa de pavbavew vous waitas raur” (sey) oi de avdpes ysroueroi xeyooret. Agesilaus, Apothegmata Grec. Hen. Steph. 1568. p. 306.

Henry, a Protestant, an Anabaptist, an apostate Monk, a wandering preacher, speciem pietatis . habens cujus virtutem penitus abnegavit. His gains were spent ludendo aleis, aut in usus turpiores. Frequenter siquidem post diurnum populi plausum, nocte insecutâ cum meretricibus inventus est, et interdum etiam cum conjugatis. Inquire, si placet, vir nobilis.quomgdo de. LausanA civitate exierit, &c. St. Bernard. Epist: 242, tom. i. p. 239. Edit. Mabillon.“ Venet, 1750.

tw

Juxta lacum etiam LAUSANEX SEM totius diei itinere pergens penitus non attendit aut se videre non videt. Cum enim vespere facto de eodem lacû socii colloquerentur, interrogabat eos, ubi lacus ille esset, et mirati sunt universi. S. Bernardi Vita secunda, Auctore Alano (a Monk and Bishop of Auxerre. He died at Clairvaux A: D. 1383) c. 16, No. 45. Opera, tom. vi. p. 1388. 1™* Vet. iii: tom. i. p. 1832. -

DsMeETRius Soran — Excerpts quædam (ex antiquissimo MS. codice nuper

536 EXTRACTS-FROM MR. ‘GIBHON'S COMMON-PLACE BOOKS, &c.

fiuper in Ambrosian Bibliothecd reperto) nunc primum in lucem edita, Mediolani (c’est à dire à Rome) MDCCXLIV. vidus Januarias. Horis antilucanis, superiorum permissu.

Argumentum —Demetrius, Seleuci filius, Soter postes dictus, clam ex urbe ad patriam liberandam proficiscitur.

Heroum soboles, sceptri Demetrius heres Antiqui, Romz lentos inglorius annos | Degebat, non sponte sua, tristemque juventam Mulcebat, sylvis captus studiisque Diane.

Tonga sed interea patriam trans æquora regnum Vastabat, populis et Dis invisa, potestas, Captivique Lares Dominum clamore ‘ciebant) Haud paucis cultus, sed plurimus observatus, Quid faceret juvenis? Venatum ad littora Circes Fingit iter de more, canes, solitamque cohortem Premittit comitum, vigilem sic decipit urbem, Ignotasque vias, ignotus et ipse, capessit.

Demetrius ante discessum amicis mentem aperit.

Sit satis; audivi: jam me nec vester, amici,

Fallit amor, pietasque mea studiosa juveñtæ,

Nec generosa fides; et qua sapientia nullam - Horret inire viam, qua ducit ad ärdua virtus,

‘Hac capienda mihi est. Hanc olim numina legem -Nascenti posuere, lubens mea ‘fata capessarn,

N6h me dégenérem, non. pulchræ laudis egentem Arguat aut præsens, aut postera nesciat ætas,

Nec proavis que terra meis regnata superbum . Nomen et imperium late diffundit in eras

Sordeat ulterius, dominis calcata protervis,

Sed servatorem norint in principe cives.

Le Cardinal Monti fit ces vers à l’occasion du voyage du ] jeune Che, vahet de St. George en Frdnce, qui partit de Rome, le 5 des Idés, ‘ou le 9 de Janvier, 1744

Since the year 1756 Russia has been engaged almost without iriterruption

EXTRACTS FROM MR. GIBBON’S COMMON-PLACE BOOKS, &c. 537

ruption in the Prussian, the Polish, and the Turkish wars. During the last mentioned war the Empress at the same time employed seven armies, (on the Danube, in Crim Tartary, in Georgia, in Greece, in Poland, in Ingria, and against the rebel Pugascheff,) and four fleets, ‘ on the Baltic, the Archipelago, the Black Sea, and the Danube. Whilst she was making these extraordinary efforts she supported the splendour of her court, encouraged the arts of England, France, and Italy, by her expensive orders, which were most punctually paid; and increased one third the salaries of almost all her officers. As soon as the war was at an end she suppressed some taxes (about seven or eight millions of French livres); and she is now paying off about ten millions which she borrowed in Holland, and which forms the whole national debt of Russia.

The. army at present consists of four regiments of Guards, one cavalry and three infantry, that compose the formidable body of ‘about 10,000 men which has so often disposed of the throne; of one hundred and five regiments of infantry (1600 men each) making about 170,000 men. To these we must add the artillery between 20 and 30,000, and the cavalry, dragoons, &c. between 40 and'50,000. Upon the whole we may compute the establishment of regular forces at about 250,000; and had the Turkish war continued, both men and money were pros vided for an augmentation of 50,000 more. To this establishment we must add the stationary garrisons of the remote provinces, and the numerous bodies of .irregulars, Cossacks, Calmucks, &c. which are always ready to obey the commands of the Russian monarch...

. There is not any direct land-tax in Russia, and the revenue arises from the capitation, the consumption, and the customs. 1. The clergy . and nobility are exempt from the capitation, which is assessed chiefly on the peasants; but.as these are all villains the tax-ultimately falls on their masters, and must be tolerably proportioned to their landed property. The master, who enjoys the fruit of his slave’s labour, is ebliged to give him a piece of land to cultivate, sufficient not only for his own subsistence, but likewise for the payment of the tax which is estimated at about four livres on the head of every male, from the moment of his birth to the age of sixty. Not less than ten millions of

VOL. III. 32 persons

538 EXTRACTS FROM MR. GIBBON'S COMMON-PLACE BOOKS, &c.

persons are rated.to the capitation, which consequently must amount to about forty millions. 2. The nobles have the exclusive privilege of making salt, and distilling spirituous liquors, on their estates, but they can dispose af them only to the empress. On the other hand the licensed venders of those necessary articles can purchase them only in the imperial magazines. By this double monopoly the crown gains two or three hundred per cent. and raises an indirect excise. 3. The customs, both on exports and imports, are excessively high; but they are exacted only on the frontiers of the empire, and the interior com- ‘merce is entirely free. To these great articles we must add the mines, the tribute of furs, &c., which in the whole form a revenue of ‘one hundred and fifty millions of French livres. The population of Russia, without including the savages of the north, or the wandering Tartars, whose allegiance is voluntary and precarious, has been computed at twenty-two millions.

From the Prince Bariatinski, Minister from. Russia, at Paris.

pan

Peter IIL was poisoned in a glass of brandy. On his refusing a second glass he was forcibly thrown down and strangled with a handkerchief by Orlof le Balafré, Teplow, Potemkin, and the youngest of ‘the Princes Baratinski. When the body was exposed the marks of violence on the neck, &c. were evident. Orlof instantly returned to Petersburg and appeared at the Empress’s dinner in the disorder of a murderer. ‘ She caught his eye, rose from table, called him into her closet, sent for Count Panin, to whom she imparted the news, and returned to dinner with her. usual ease and cheerfulness.

+ These particulars are taken from a history of the Revolution in 1762 composed by M. Rulhière, a French officer, who was an attentive spectator, and who afterwards conversed with the principal actors. Prudence prevents him from publishing, but he reads his Narrative to large companies, and I have already heard it twice. It is an entertaining spirited piece of historical. composition not unworthy of being compared with Vertot’s Conspiracy of Portugal. But I find that Rulhière’s fidelity is impeached TP persons perbaps partial, but certainly

well.

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well-informed; by the Baron de Goliz the Prussian minister, by the Count de Swaloff Elizabeth's favourite, 8 and by the Princess d'Askoff herself. |

The deaths of religious persons of both sexes is about 1800 per annum; and as there is some reason to believe that about one out of thirty die every year, the whole number of persons in France, engaged ‘in the monastic life, is about 54,000, of whom we may reckon 24,000 ‘men and 30,000 women.

M. Garnier, and the originals of the Controle Général.

Mexico.—The ancient empire was said to contain ten millions of (1) E Hist. Philosouls; at present about one. (1) den Er fades, eg

The city once 200,000, now 50,000,—afflicted by inundation. : Los tm ett) 76. Angelos, near Tlascala, has gained by its loss. |

From the mines 65,000,000 (of livres) are annually coined at 1. p. 108, 109. Mexico. The king has a fifth on the silver, a tenth on the gold, as those mines are more casual. The gold coined is about a fifth of the silver.

Mexico is highly taxed, yet the net revenue returned to Europe is Id. p. 14 only 6,300,800/. Las Casas persuaded the Court of Spain to restore pe liberty, but not property, to the Mexican Indians. They are no where so happy, noble, and ingenious as in his diocese of Chiapa.

1. Immortality of the soul rejected only by the barbarous Otomites, believed by the Mexicans. Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, tom.

il, p. 4.—8. Mictlanteuchlti, God of- Hell, and his wife—a subterraneous dwelling, black priests, nocturnal sacrifices, &c. p. 17.—3. The Hades in the centre of the earth; gate of Paradise, perilous journey, -pleasant abode with the God of Waters—the Supreme Heaven in the “sun, p. 4, 5, 6—94.—4. The souls of those who died in war or child- bearing held the first place ; the second for the drowned, the dropstcal, the thunderstruck, infants, &c.; vulgar deaths in the third, p. 6.— 5. Noble Tlascalans.—6. A similar life and body ? Utensils, arms, gold $272 deposited

540 EXTRACTS FROM MR. GIBBON’S COMMON-PLACE BOOKS, &c.

deposited in sepulchres. Their Techichi slain to accompany them (p. 94—99). . The same as the Alco, a mute melancholy sort of dog, now extinct. (Tom. i. p. 73.) False criticism on Pope. (Warton, vol. ii. p. 129.)—7. Transmigration of plebeian souls into vile animals, of noble into the humming bird. (p. 5) Beautiful image—Buffon’s fine description of 43 species of Oiseaux-Mouches and Colibris, (tom. xxi. p. 1—64, in 4to.)

Hist. Philoroe SPAIN contained thirteen or fourteen millions before the discovery of hique desdeux .

Indes, tom. iii. America.

ru AE. In the year 1747 only 7,423,590 souls, including 180,046 head of clergy.

Id. p. 388. Her manufactures flourished till the expulsion of the Moors. Sego-

iu. p.40. via cloths the best in Europe. 60,000 silk looms at Seville. About fifty millions (French) of merchandizes are sent annually from Cadiz to. America. About an eighth part is Spanish property.

Id. p.431... . About seventeen millions of piasters (89,250,000/.) arrive annually at Cadiz from America in gold and silver. The account seems particular and exact. |

ke PorTucaL.—The number of its inhabitants has sunk from 3,000,000 to 1,800,000. |

Td, p. 528. Brasiz.—Its gold mines (under the tropic of Capricorn) were discovered about the year 1730. ‘The Portuguese content themselves with the quantity which the torrents wash down into the vallies. It amounts annually to about 45,000,000. The king has one fifth. The importation diminishes the proportion of gold to silver. .

The mine of diamonds was discovered about the year 1730—zgiven to an exclusive company, and the country round it dispeopled—the government—who is the agent in Europe—under articles to sell no more annually than ],250,000/.—bought and cut by.the Dutch and English,

chiefly

Id. p. 534

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chiefly sold in France—are 10 per cent inferior to East India diamonds. | | |

Carats, Great Mogul’s . . … 2794 The Great Duke’s . . 189 ' The Sancy . ~ 2° 106 The Pitt . - . . . 136 The King of Portugal’s . 1280 (inestimable if not a topaz.)

‘Russta.—To what causes may we ascribe the abject slavery of the Russians, the brethren of those hardy Poles and Bohemians, who so long asserted and abused the right of freedom? Perhaps to the.following causes. 1. The Russians derived the knowledge of Christianity and the rudiments of a civil education from a servile and superstitious: people, the Greeks of Constantinople. 2. The Tartar conquerors broke and degraded the spirit of the Russian nation.. 3. After the Russians. had lost all communication with the Euxine and the Baltic, they were wholly separated and in a great measure secluded from the fest of Europe, and the civilized part of the human race. 4. The accidental advantage of fire-arms enabled the Czars to extend their empire over the north of Asia; and the power of prejudice was enforced by that of the sword. | 3