answered no; but thinking that the Earl might intend to send him into Spain on some honourable commission, he presently added, that he did not doubt in a short time both to understand and speak it and the treasurer approving of what he said, Mr. Rowe took his leave, and immediately retired to a private country farm-house; where in a few months having learnt Spanish, he waited again upon the Earl, to acquaint him with his diligence; whereupon his lordship asking if he was sure he understood the language thoroughly, and our author answering in the affirmative, that fathomless minister burst out into the following exclamation: How happy are you, Mr. Rowe, that you can enjoy the pleasure of reading and understanding Don Quixote in the original' *!” For the disappointment which he thus suffered he was liberally consoled on the accession of George the First, when he was immediately made poet-laureat, and one of the land surveyors of the customs in the port of London. To these not very congenial employments were shortly afterwards added the clerkship of the council to the Prince of Wales, and the secretaryship of the presentations, to which, without any solicitation on his part, he was instantly appointed by the *Vol. v. p. 3521, Note E. lord chancellor Parker on his receival of the seals. His enjoyment of these promotions was, however, but of short duration; for he died on the sixth of December, 1718, aged forty-four, and was buried on the nineteenth of the same month in Westminster-abbey. Mr. Rowe twice entered into the conjugal state, and had a son by his first, and a daughter by his second, wife. He was a man elegant in his person and manners, of a lively and amiable temper, yet partial to occasional solitude; he therefore frequently retired into the country, where, according to the relation of his friend, Dr. Welwood, he usually employed his time in the study of divinity and ecclesiastical history. He was not only well acquainted with the learned languages, but familiar with French, Italian, and Spanish, the first of which he spoke with flu ency. Mr. Rowe was the author of a single letter in the Guardian, N° 118, signed with the initials of his name. In N° 98 of the same paper, Addison had given notice of the erection of a lion's head at Button's coffee-house, the expanded mouth of which was intended for the reception of such letters and papers as might be sent him by his correspondents; and Mr. Rowe, who represents himself as in the country, probably in one of his usual retirements, humorously petitions in his letter for an out-riding lion, or a couple of jackalls, for the accommodation of those who by distance are rendered incapable of paying their respects to his metropolitan Majesty *. 38. GOLDING, MR. To Mr. Golding, concerning whose life and character no circumstances have reached the present times, has been attributed the first letter in N° 250 of the Spectator. It is an elegant and entertaining essay on the language of the eyes, as descriptive of the various passions which agitate the human breast. "Love, anger, pride, and avarice," remarks the author, "all visibly move in those little orbs." The expression of love and desire in the eye, has more particularly been the theme of the poets in every age; and some have been peculiarly happy in painting that tender languor, that tre *The following paragraph, which I copy from the London papers, announces the fate of this celebrated, and I may say, classical head. "The beautiful carved and gilt Lion's Head Letter-box, which was formerly at Button's coffeehouse, was on Wednesday, November the 7th, 1804, knocked down at the Shakspeare tavern, Covent-garden, to Mr. Richardson, for 171. 10 s. The Antiquarian Society offered Mr. Campbell 100 guineas for this piece of curiosity not twelve months since," mulous and voluptuous light, that dewy radiance which imparts to the eye a fascination so irresistibly attractive. Anacreon possesses several exquisite delineations of this kind, and in his twenty-eighth ode has applied the term TTPOZ, or humid, to the eyes of Cytherea; an epithet which has probably given birth to an admirable line in Collins's Ode to Pity: Long, Pity, let the nations view Thy sky-worn robes of tenderest blue, No bard, however, has on this subject equalled Tasso; nor can there readily be found two lines of greater beauty, or descriptive accuracy, than what the following exhibit: Qual raggio in onda le scintilla un riso 39. ROBERT HARPER, the author of a letter with the signature of M. D. in N° 480 of the Spectator, was an eminent conveyancer of Lincoln's-inn. It is related, that in this letter, which does not occupy a single page, Steele made several alterations, and that the original draught was communicated to the annotators by the Rev. Mr. Harper, of the British Museum. The tenor of this brief epistle is such as to induce us to suppose, that Mr. Harper was a man of consider able merit, but that his abilities were obscured by an excessive, and therefore injurious, degree of diffidence. 40. PETER ANTHONY MOTTEUX, a native of France, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, in 1660. He chose England as his place of residence on the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and for some time lived with his relation, Paul Dominique, Esq. Mr. Motteux is one of the few Frenchmen who have obtained a perfect know. ledge of our language; he acquired, indeed, such an intimacy with its idiom and colloquial expression, that his translations from the Spanish and the French exhibit completely the air of original composition. "Motteux," observes Mr. Tytler, speaking of his version of Don Quixote, "with no great abilities as an original writer, appears to me to have been endowed with a strong perception of the ridiculous in human character; a just discernment of the weaknesses and follies of mankind. He seems, likewise, to have had a great command of the various styles which are accommodated to the expression both of grave burlesque, and of low humour. Inferior to Smollet in inventive genius, he seems to have equalled him in every quality which was essentially requisite to a translator of Don Quixote.-On |