ed entire portions. Goguet's esteemed work of
the "Origin of the Arts and Sciences" was greatly indebted to the
fraternal zeal of a devoted friend. The still valued books of the Port
Royal Society were all formed by this happy union. The secret history of
many eminent works would show the advantages which may be derived from
that combination of talents, differing in their nature. Cumberland's
masterly versions of the fragments of the Greek dramatic poets would
never have been given to the poetical world, had he not accidentally
possessed the manuscript notes of his relative, the learned Bentley.
This treasure supplied that research in the most obscure works, which
the volatile studies of Cumberland could never have explored; a
circumstance which he concealed from the world, proud of the Greek
erudition which he thus cheaply possessed. Yet by this literary union,
Bentley's vast erudition made those researches which Cumberland could
not; and Cumberland gave the nation a copy of the domestic drama of
Greece, of which Bentley was incapable.

There is a large work, which is still celebrated, of which the
composition has excited the astonishment even of the philosophic Hume,
but whose secret history remains yet to be disclosed. This extraordinary
volume is "The History of the World by Rawleigh." I shall transcribe
Hume's observations, that the reader may observe the literary
phenomenon. "They were struck with the extensive genius of the man, who
being educated amidst naval and military enterprises, _had surpassed in
the pursuits of literature, even those of the most recluse and sedentary
lives_; and they admired his unbroken magnanimity, which at his age, and
under his circumstances, could engage him to undertake and execute so
great a work, as his History of the World." Now when the truth is known,
the wonderful in this literary mystery will disappear, except in the
eloquent, the grand, and the pathetic passages interspersed in that
venerable volume. We may, indeed, pardon the astonishment of our calm
philosopher, when we consider the recondite matter contained in this
work, and recollect the little time which this adventurous spirit, whose
life was passed in fabricating his own fortune, and in perpetual
enterprise, could allow to such erudite pursuits. Where could Rawleigh
obtain that familiar acquaintance with the rabbins, of whose language he
was probably entirely ignorant? His numerous publications, the effusions
of a mo