"a Diftinction, the Author of the Apologetic "Letters, in defence of our Miffionaries in "China, ufed it. Thefe Letters you maliciously "afcribe to F. Ptolomei, which is a piece of

Impudence hardly to be matched, fince that "Father was raised to the Dignity of a Car"dinal, on account of the blind Submiffion

he fhewed to the Decifions of the Holy See "in that famous Controverfy. No Jefuit had << any hand in the Letters you mention: they "were, in all probability, written by fome "of your Brethren on the other fide the Alps, "who were the firft Broachers of your Diftinc❝tion between a Question de jure, and a Que"ftion de facto: Thus far F. Aquillera, a Sicilian Jefuit, in his Book entitled Lazarus, printed at Rome in 1728; wherein he maintains, against the Abbot Lazarini, Profeffor of Rhetoric at Padoua, the Validity of Baptifm conferred upon a Child in its Mother's Womb; for the Jefuits tell us, that Aloyfius Gonzaga, one of their Saints, would not come into the World before he was baptized, left it should be faid that he was born a Sinner. F. Ptolomei was, without all doubt, the Author of the Apologetic Letters mentioned here, and handled the Holy Father's Infallibility pretty roughly in them. But the Jefuits take care never to put their Names to Books of that nature, to the end they may be free to difown them, as Occafion requires, and even to lay them upon others.

THE fourth Piece contained in this fecond Volume, is a Specimen of Confucius's Philofophy, in Chinefe and Latin, with Notes; to which is added, Part of a Book, which is explained in the Schools among the Chinese, and contains fome Account of the Chinese History

from

from the earliest Times, as alfo of their civil and religious Ceremonies, of their Government, Laws, Chronology, Cycles, Coins, Weights,, Measures, &c. The Book is entitled, Sia ul lun, that is, Inftructions for Children, and is of great Authority among the Chinese. In the Perufal of this Work, the Reader will be often obliged to guess at our Author's meaning, it being impoffible always to difcover it by the Grammatical Conftruction.

ARTICLE VIII.

Paufanias, ou Voyage Hiftorique de la Greece, traduit en Francois, avec des Remarques. Par M. L'Abbé Gedoyn, Chanoine de la Sainte Chapelle, & Abbé de Baugenci, de l'Academie Royale des Infcriptions, & Belles-Lettres, &c..

That is,

Paufanias, or an Hiftorical Journey over Greece, tranflated into French, with Remarks. By the Abbot Gedoyn, Canon of the Holy Chappel, and Abbot of Baugenci, Fellow of the French Academy, and of the Royal Academy of Infcriptions, and Belles-Lettres. Paris 1731. Two Volumes, Quarto.

T

HE first thing that occurs in this learned Work worthy of Obfervation, is Mr. Gedoyn's Preface, wherein he gives an account of the Original, its Author, and his own Per

formance.

formance. As to the Original, he obferves, that it is the Account of Travels, and thereby accounts for the Alteration he has made in the Title. And indeed the word Voyage, (as the French have it) not only fuits better with the Subject, which Paufanias treats of, than the Word Defcription used by the Latin Tranflators but is alfo more agreeable to the original Title, τῆς Ἑλλάδος περιήγησις, which imports a Journey round Greece, or a Survey of that Country. The Work then of Paufanias is, and ought to be stiled, a Journey or Survey. But as the many Chimerical and Romantic Accounts, which have been published in all Ages, but efpecially in ours, under the fame Title, might raife in our Minds fome Doubts, touching the Greek Hiftorian's Veracity Mr. Gedoyn further obferves, that we cannot reasonably entertain any Doubts of that kind, with refpect to Paufanias, who relates his Travels not into any remote and unknown Country; but into Greece, which the Romans, to whom he addreffes himfelf, and amongst whom he lived, were as well acquainted with as himself, and would not have failed to contradict him, had he advanced any thing, foreign to Truth. But neither is that Sincerity, which fo plainly appears in all Paufanias's Accounts, and has never hitherto, been called in queftion, the only thing, which raises him above the common Rank of Travellers. His Works fpeak him both a curious Traveller, and a profound Writer. He was thoroughly acquainted with the Religion, Ceremonies, Laws, Customs, Manners, &c. of the People and Countries he defcribes. He had read their Poets, Hiftorians, Genealogifts, Geographers, No. XIV, 1731. Annals, VOL. III.

M.

f

Annals, and all their most antient Records,
which were in his time, but are now no more.
From them he gathered that vaft number of
curious Events and Particularities, which, as
they are now only to be found in our Author,
recommend him, above any other Writer, to
the esteem of the Admirers of Antiquity. For
he does not confine himself to the bare Defcrip-
tion of Countries, as they were at the time he tra-
velled into them; but traces the Inhabitants back
to their firft Origin, rélates the Series of their
Kings, records the Genealogies of their Great
Men, and defcribes with an extraordinary ex-
actnefs, and very minutely, all the Monuments,
that were extant in his time, acquainting us
to what Heroes they were erected, by whom,
on what occafion, &c. Nay, he often afcends,
from Generation to Generation, even to the
Deluge of Deucalion, which was the great Epoch
of the Greeks. Such an immenfe variety of en-
tertaining Accounts, as are infeparable from a
Plan of this nature, muft neceffarily not only
render the reading of the Work extremely a
greeable, but likewife acquaint the Reader with
Teveral curious and important Particulars rela-
ting to Hiftory Chronology, Geography,
Criticifm, &c. And this is what happens in the
'perufal of Paufanias, who in defcribing, for
inftance, a Statue erected to an Hero, not only
acquaints us with the Pedigree, Exploits, and
Virtues of the Hero; but adds the Hiftory of
the Statue,names the Artificer, informs us
where he was born, under what Mafter he was
brought up, what Scholars he had, in what
time he flourished, &c. By this means he en-
ables every Reader to judge,ratione view, of
the improvement of Arts among the Greeks,

C

!

III and

1

and the time that paffed from their first rise to their laft perfection. Thus we may gather from feveral hiftorical Accounts we find in Paufanias, that Sculpture attained to the highest degree of Perfection among the Greeks, in the fpace of thirty Olympiads, or 120 Years; that is, from the 52d or 53d Olympiad, in which Dipoenes and Scyllis lived, both Difciples to one Dedalus, and the most antient Statuaries of any Reputation that appeared in Greece, to the 83d, in which Phidias flourished, who eclipfed all others.fo

IN the next place Mr. Gedoyn observes, that Paufanias does not defcribe Greece, as it is at prefent, ftript of all its Beauties and Riches, reduced to a moft miferable state of Slavery, and buried, as it were, in its own Ruins; but fuch as it was in former times, when it was looked upon as the Habitation of the Mufes, and all Sciences; the Scene of Wonders; the Mother of Heroes, great Captains, Sages, Philofophers; and, in a word, the most famous in all refpects, and most renowned Country, of the Universe.

MR. Gedoyn, after giving a general Account of antient Greece, the Ground-work of the pre fent History, acquaints us with the Method, in which our Greek Hiftorian purfues his Subject. His relation comprifes only a part of Greece, and the Cities, which were poffeffed by the Greek Colonies in Afia-Minor. He divides this part into ten States, which were antiently indepen dent of one another, viz. Attica, Corinth, Argolis, Laconia, Meffenia, Elis, Achaia, (which the Printer by miftake has left out) Arcadia, Baotia and Phocis. The Defcription of thefe ten States comprehends that of other lefs confiderable

M 2

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