which Lord Hervey has lengthened to a degree that is unnatural; especially, as Roxana is supposed to write just after she has swallowed a deadly poison, and during its violent operations. I have lately seen several pieces of this species, which, as the subjects are striking, will, I hope, one day see the light. They are entitled, "TASSO to LEONORA, written in an interval of his madness; LUCAN to NERO, just after he was condemned to death; Lady OLIVIA to CLEMENTINA, on her refusing to marry Grandison; CHARLES V. from the monastery he retired to, to the king of France; GALGACUS, general of the Britons, to AGRICOLA, that commanded the Romans; MONTEZUMA to CORTEZ; VITIKINDA, the general of the Saxons, to CHARLEMAGNE; and ROSMUNDA to ALBOINUS, king of the Lombards." The Italians had a writer of heroic epistles called Antonio Bruni; these are some of his subjects; the HEBREW MOTHER to TITUS VESPASIAN, ERMINIA to TANCRED, CATHERINE of ARRAGON to HENRY VIII. TURNUS to LAVINIA, TANCRED to CLORINDA, ARMIDA to RINALDO, RADAMISTUS RADAMISTUS to ZENOBIA, NAUSICAA to ULYSSES, ANGELICA to ORLANDO, SOPHONISBA to MASINISSA, SEMIRAMIS to NINUS, HONORIA to ATTILA. But of all stories, ancient or modern, there is not, perhaps, a more proper one to furnish out an elegiac epistle, than that of ELOISA and ABELARD. Their distresses were of a most SINGULAR and PECULIAR kind; and their names sufficiently known, but not grown trite or common by too frequent usage. POPE was a most excellent IMPROVER, if no great original INVENTOR; for, as we have seen what an elegant superstructure he has raised on the little dialogue of the Comte de Gabalis, so shall we perceive, in the sequel of this Section, how finely he has worked up the hints of distress that are scattered up and down in Abelard's and Eloisa's Letters; and in a little French* history of their lives and misfortunes.† Abelard was reputed the most U 4 handsome, * Printed at the Hague, 1693. He was born at Palais, near Nantes, in Britanny, at the beginning of the twelfth century, and studied at Paris under William Champeaux. * handsome, as well as most learned man, of his time, according to the kind of learning then in vogue. An old chronicle, quoted by Andrew du Chesne, informs us, that scholars flocked to his lectures from all quarters of the Latin world. And his contemporary, St. Bernard, relates, that he numbered among his disciples many principal ecclesiastics, and cardinals, at the court of Rome. Abelard himself boasts, that when he retired into the country, he was followed by such immense crowds of scholars, that they could get neither lodgings nor provisions sufficient for them; "ut nec locus hospitiis, nec terra sufficeret alimentis."t He met with the fate of many learned men, to be embroiled in controversy, and accused of heresy ; In His. Cal. Abel. p. 1155. And the high opinion that was held of his learning, may appear from his epitaph by Pet. de Clugny. Gallorum Socrates, Plato maximus Hesperiarum, Vid. Abel. & Helois. Epist. p. 235. Edit. Rawlinson, 1718. + Abelardi Opera, p. 19. heresy; for St. * Bernard, whose influence and authority was very great, got his opinion of the Trinity condemned, at a council held at Sens, 1140. But the talents of † Abelard were not confined to theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and the thorny paths of scholasticism; he gave proofs of a lively genius, by many poetical performances; insomuch, that he was reputed to be the author of the famous Romance of the Rose; which, however, was indisputably written by JOHN OF MEUN, a little city on the banks of the Loire, * The character of this St. Bernard was singular; the president Henault thus speaks of him: "Il avoit été donné à cet homme extraordinaire de dominer les esprits." One beholds him pass in a moment from the depth of a desert to a court, where he never was misplaced; where he lived without titles, without a public character, enjoying that personal weight which is above authority. Yet no less a man of sanctity, and a man of wit, than a great politician; his sermons are masterpieces of sentiment and energy. Histoire de France: Troisieme Race. p. 145. † One is sometimes surprized to see the honours and veneration formerly paid to men of literature, in comparison of what they meet with at present. "As every human advantage is attended with inconveniencies, the change of mens' ideas, in this particular, may probably be ascribed to the invention of PRINTING, which has rendered books so common, that even men of slender fortunes can have access to them." HUME'S History of Great Britain, p. 149. Loire, about four leagues from Orleans; which gave occasion to Marot to exclaim, De Jean de Meun s'enfle le cours de Loire. It was he who continued and finished the Romance of the Rose, which * William de Lorris had left imperfect forty years before. If chronology † did not absolutely contradict the notion of Abelard's being the author of this very celebrated piece, yet are there internal arguments sufficient to confute it. The mistake seems to have flowed from his having given Eloisa the name of ROSE, in one of the many sonnets he addressed. to her. In this romance there are many severe and satirical strokes on the character of Eloisa, which the pen of Abelard never would have given. * Whom Marot praises as the Ennius of France; Notre Ennius Guillaume de Lorris. He took his name from the town of Lorris, where he was born. + There is undoubted evidence that it was written an hundred years after Abelard flourished. Eloisa speaks thus of Abelard's poetry, and skill also in music; for he sung his own verses; "Duo autem fateor, tibi specialiter |