LUXEMBURGH. (WITH A VIEW.] THIS celebrated Palace, the refidence formerly of Monarchs, and the pride of Paris, is now appropriated to thofe who direct the affairs of France. The architecture of it is Tufcan, and the pillars are fo exceffively charged with the Ruftick, that they look, according to the opinion of a celebrated traveller, like a heap of vaft Cheshire cheefes, or rather mill-ftones, fet one upon anether." In this Palace is the celebrated Gallery of Rubens, fo well known by the prints. Of the paintings, thofe that are undamaged fhew a great beauty of colouring, by which that great master was fo diftinguished; not that they were all wholly performed by his own hand, Vandyke and others (his principal difciples) having confiderably affifted. The whole is faid to have been performed in two years time. THE COPY OF AN ORDER AGREED UPON IN THE HOUSE OF pounds. Every English Factor that dwels in London, and is not free of the City, 40 fhillings. Every stranger Proteftant, handy-crafts trade and Artificer, 2 fhillings. Baronets and Knights of the Bath, 30 Every Papift ftranger, and handy-crafts, Knights, 20 pounds. Gentlemen of 100 pounds per annum, 5 pounds. Recufants of all degrees to double Proteftants. Lord Major, 40 pounds. Livery men of other Companies, 50 fhil. Every one free of thofe Companies, one pound, Every Freeman of other Companies, 10 thillings. Every Merchant that trades by Sea, in. habiting in London, 10 pounds. Every Merchant tranger that trades within Land, 5 pounds. Every English Merchant refiding in the City of London, and not free, 5 pounds. 4 fhillings. Every Widow, a third part, according to her husband's degree. Every Iudge a Knight, 20 pounds. Every Parfon or Vicar at 100 pound per annum, 5 pounds. Every office worth above 100 pound per annum, to be referred to a Committee, to bee rated every man that may spend 50 pounds per annum, 30 fhillings. Every man that may spend 20 pound per annum, 5 fhillings. Every perfon that is above 16 yeares of age, and doth not receive almes, and is not formerly rated, fhall pay fixpence per Pole. THE THE CHARACTER OF EDMUND BURKE, EXTRACTED FROM THE SECOND EDITION OF DR. PARR'S PREFACE TO (Never before Tranflated.) THERE is, I am aware, a certain wordy fpeaker, who, for his readinefs, and fluency, and fhewy exercitations, has obtained among the multitude the character of a confummate orator. Let the admirers of this man gnash their teeth with vexation while I fpeak, what my foul dictates, of the eloquence of Burke-of Burke, by whofe sweetness Athens herself would have been foothed, with whofe amplitude and exuberance the would have been enraptured, and on whofe lips that prolific mother of genius and fcience would have adored, confeffed, the Goddess of Perfuafion. There were fome among the Romans who efteemed a certain terfeness and exility of ftyle and fentiment, provided it were laboured, and polished, and elegant, as truly attic; and held the more full, and grand, and commanding, and mag. nificent fpecies of oratory in the highest contempt. Vain of their taste and their fagacity, and infenfible to the gradations, the tranfitions, and the variety of the Athenian ftyle, fuch men had the audacity to condemn the harangues of Cicero himself, as tumid, oriental, and redundant. Men have not been wanting with us, who have croaked the fame dull note, and repeated the fame lifeless criticifm of the elo. quence of Burke. But let these vain pretenders to attic tafte, without the robustnefs of mind to tolerate its beauties, learn to think more highly of our illuftrious orator; let them know, that to imitate Burke is to fpeak Athenian-like and well; and that even to have attained a relish for his charms is greatly to have advanced in literature. Let me add, and it is much to the purpofe, that Burke, on whatever topic he touches in the excurfive range of his allufions, appears a master of the subject; and to have acquired a deep and thorough infight into whatever is excellent in ele. gant art or folid fcience. Critics there are who with to separate eloquence from literature, and to afcribe the powers of the orator to a certain natural talent improved by habit. While we congratulate thefe original and unlettered fpeakers, let us admire in Burke a mind by nature formed for eloquence, and impregnated with VOL. XXXII. Nov. 1797. every fubfidiary aid, by fedulous and unwearied application. He applied himself to claffic literature, because he knew that from that literature oratory was furnished with its choiceft ornaments, and because he felt that it filently infused the habit of fpeaking even English well. Demofthenes is faid to have been a reader, and even an auditor, of Plato; and Cicero is confirmed in this opinion by the choice and grandeur of his style. How deeply read is Burke; what flores be has accumulated in his capacious memory from the orators and poets, is forcibly felt by every man of letters in that strong tincture of literature which pervades, with effential fragrance, all his compofitions. His fuperior genius, like that of Phidias, was no fooner exhibited than felt; but observing how much the brightest talents have been obfcured by negligence, he never relaxed his ardent affiduity a moment, nor fuffered the extent of his attainments to damp his appetite for more. Few have the opportunity or the power of forming a competent opinion of a fpeech delivered; but of Burke's eloquence there are fpecimens of which every one may judge. Look at what he has published, the charm equally of the world at large and of the ableft critics. Who is there among men of eloquence or learning more profoundly verfed in every branch of science? Who is there that has cultivated philofophy, the parent of all that is illuftrious in literature or exploit, with more felicitous fuccefs ? Who is there that can transfer fo happily the refult of laborious and intricate refearch, to the most familiar and popular topics? Who is there that poffeffes fo extenfive yet fo accurate an acquaintance with every tranfaction, recent or remote ? Who is there that can deviate from his fubject, for the purposes of delight, with fuch engaging cafe, and infenfibly conduct his readers from the severity of reasoning to the feftivity of wit? Who is there that can melt them, if the occafion requires, with fuch refiftless power to grief and pity? Who is there that com bines the charm of inimitable grace and urbanity with fuch magnificent and ९१ boundless boundless expanfion ?-He that can do this, I affirm it again and again, has attic powers, and fpeaks a language which, while it foothes the multitude by its sweetness, by its correctnefs and pregnancy, will captivate the judgment of the feverest critic. Many men, of more talent than erudition, have fancied that they could speak better than they could write; and flattered themieives with a reputation for eloquence which never ftood the test of fevere and critical examination. Many a fpeech has been received with infinite applaute in the delivery, which, when handed about in print, has appeared poor, languid, and lifelefs. Lord Chatham was a great man, a moft animated and terrific orator, and eminently endued with the firit qualifications of a great ftateiman; yet, as a speaker, his fame, doubtlets from the witchery of his manner, was greater than his power. Like Cromwell, he had that peripicacity of eye which pried into the inmoit recelles of the foul, and detected all the thoughts and impreffions, and hopes and fears, of his auditors. He had that too which Cromwell had not; for Cromwell, we are told, was flow in the raception of his ideas when he fport, and diffufe and perplexed in the delivery. But in Chatham, when he rofe to speak, there was a fervour and vehe. mence of imagination, a headlong torrent of words, and power of found, which deafened, and stunned, and confounded his Opponents. In the man himself, I well remember, there was a native dignity of form, which commanded reverence and faith; and, by filling his hearers with holy awe, predifpofed them to his purpole. With powers littie calculated to inftruct or to delight, there was a vehemence of contention, an awakening energy of manner, an impaffioned ardour, a confident and boaftful exultation, which victory only rendered more ferocious and ungovernable. He often role to dignity in the donation of applaufe, ftill oftener blazed to fierceneis in the fulmination of invectives; and fometimes, in the violence of altercation, itung with a poignancy of wit peculiarly his own. But take away thefe fhewy appendages of eloquence, which are included almoft in the very name of Chatham; take away that which in the judgment of Demoit. henes was the firft, the fecond, the third qualification of an orator; and which, in Chatham, were displayed as they prevailed in fo aftonishing a measure, and with fuch felicity of fuccefs; take away the impofing dignity of his prefence, the ftrength and grandeur of his voice, the elaborate vehemence of his gesticulation, worked up often to extravagance, and adapted rather to the Drama than the Senate; take these away, and in those very fpeeches which were extolled by his auditors as tranfcending far all praife, you will find nothing, fcarcely, which forcibly ftrikes or fweetly foothes the ear; nothing which by its ftrength or clearness captivates the judgment; nothing which the intelligent reader in a cool and temperate hour will highly ap prove; or having once read, will eagerly demand again. Such, I confefs, was the giant fcale of Chatham's mind, that he might well claim, and would affuredly fill with ho nour, the highest station to which a fubject can afpire. To his other original and illuftrious qualities was added that felicity of fortune which fills up the meature of all pre-eminent greatness. In his character as Minifter, fuch was the greatnefs and elevation of his spirit that, like Scipio, he could revive expiring ar dour, and fill men with a confidence of expectation which no mortal promises, nor the moral courfe of nature, ever did, or, under any other aufpices, ever ought to infpire. Thofe, however, who confider Chatham not as a first-rate orator, but as another Demofthenes, are greatly deceived. In Demofthenes, with a dignity which fcarcely has been equalled, was combined a fagacity and coolnets which can never be furpaffed. He who aspires only to be rapid, vehement, and ionorous, without defcending to plain narrative, cool statement, and clofe argument, facrifices reafon to paffion, and touches on the precincts of a frantic eloquence. It was the lot of Chatham to owe whatever he poffeffed to a genius exercifed by practice alone. The confequence was natural. With infinite fluency and anima tion he infured the fate of Galba, and while he breathed confuming fire as a fpeaker, all the force and all the blaze of his eloquence was extinguished upon paper. Far different is Burke. To wing his flight to the fublime of eloquence he has called in the labours of the clofet. Burke would not that the fame of his powers fhould be circumfcribed within the fame poor limits that bound life; nor has he feared, moft certainly he has not fhunned, that femn fentence which pofterity, who "extenuate nothing, nor let down ought in malice," will hereafter pronounce upon his genius. There |