eral later editions, was still enlarging itself
by fresh supplements; and having been translated by men of letters in
Europe, by Coleti in Italy, by Mencken in Germany, and by Dr. Rawlinson
in England, these translators have enriched their own editions by more
copious articles, designed for their respective nations. The sagacity of
the original writer now renovated his work by the infusions of his
translators; like old AEson, it had its veins filled with green juices;
and thus his old work was always undergoing the magic process of
rejuvenescence.[151]

The personal character of our author was as singular as many of the
uncommon topics which engaged his inquiries; these we might conclude had
originated in mere eccentricity, or were chosen at random. But Lenglet
has shown no deficiency of judgment in several works of acknowledged
utility; and his critical opinions, his last editor has shown, have, for
the greater part, been sanctioned by the public voice. It is curious to
observe how the first direction which the mind of a hardy inquirer may
take, will often account for that variety of uncommon topics he delights
in, and which, on a closer examination, may be found to bear an
invisible connexion with some preceding inquiry. As there is an
association of ideas, so in literary history there is an association of
research; and a very judicious writer may thus be impelled to compose on
subjects which may be deemed strange or injudicious.

This observation may be illustrated by the literary history of Lenglet
du Fresnoy. He opened his career by addressing a letter and a tract to
the Sorbonne, on the extraordinary affair of Maria d'Agreda, abbess of
the nunnery of the Immaculate Conception in Spain, whose mystical Life
of the Virgin, published on the decease of the abbess, and which was
received with such rapture in Spain, had just appeared at Paris, where
it excited the murmurs of the pious, and the inquiries of the curious.
This mystical Life was declared to be founded on apparitions and
revelations experienced by the abbess. Lenglet proved, or asserted, that
the abbess was not the writer of this pretended Life, though the
manuscript existed in her handwriting; and secondly, that the
apparitions and revelations recorded were against all the rules of
apparitions and revelations which he had painfully discovered. The
affair was of a delicate nature. The writer was young and incredulous; a
grey-beard, more deeply versed in theo