indifferent to the things of God and religion. I hope you will receive this admonition with the fame kindness and good-will with which it is given. Adieu, my dear fon; write to me often.'

Amongst the advices which Monf. Racine ftrongly recommends to his fon, he neglects not to diffuade him from spending too much time in the reading of the French poets, as it' would take off his attention from more ferious ftudies. This may feem furprifing, confidering that Monf. Racine himfelf had been fo eminent a dramatic writer: but his mind had now taken a remarkable bias to religious fentiments, and these he takes the opportunity of inculcating in almost every Letter to his fon.

The good taste of Monf. Racine with regard to epistolary writing, is evident from the following Letter.

I can affure you, monf. d'Torcy lets no opportunity escape of doing you good offices, as he has a great efteem for the ambaffador, fo he entirely relies on the accounts he sends of you.. I read your laft letter to him, as well as to marefchal Noailles; they were perfectly aftonished at the defcription you give of the indefatigable pains and application of the ambaffador. I have lately read over again, for, I fuppofe, the hundredth time, the Epiftles of Cicero to his friends; and I with at your leisure hours you would read fome of them to the ambassador; I am certain they would pleafe him, as, without flattery, I know none who has better caught his manner of writing than he has, whether seriously on great affairs, or jefting agreeably on trifles; in this laft kind I think Voiture much beneath either of them. Read the Epiftle ad Trebatium, ad Marium, ad Papyrium Poetum, and others which I will point out to you, whenever you will read; alfo that from Cælius to Cicero, and you will be aftonished to fee a man equally gay and eloquent as Cicero. But to form a right judgment, you should familiarize yourself to thefe letters, by a thorough knowlege of the history. of thofe times, in which Plutarch's Lives will affift you. I advife you to purchase the Epiftles by Grevius, in Holland, octavo; they are excellent reading for a man who is to write letters, whether on business or on lefs ferious fubjects.'

The fubfequent Letter affords a proof that two of the moft eminent French poets had alfo their rank amongst the beft men in the nation

It was a very agreeable furprise to me to fee monf. Bonna enter my clofet; but my joy was greatly abated, when I found he was determined not to fleep with us; abfolutely refusing the Com my wife had prepared for him, we renewed our folicitations the next day, and went fo far as to threaten we would fend you word to lodge at an inn at the Hague; but he exsufed himself by faying, it was fo far from monf. d'Torcy's,

whom

whom he was obliged to attend whenever he came to Paris. I was forced to acquiefce, and you may be fure your mother was at leaft as much disappointed as myself. You know her grateful temper, and how good a heart the has; there is fcarce a thing fhe would not do to fhew monf. Bonnac how fenfible fhe is of the favors he confers on you. We are both charmed with monf. Bonnac's kind and polite behaviour, and fhould be overjoyed fhould you copy his manner, till you refemble him. He gives us great hopes of you, and you are happy in having fo kind a friend, if he does not flatter us, but gives a true account of you. We have great reafon to give thanks to God on your account, and to hope you will be a great comfort to us. He tells us you love employment, and that your chief amufements are reading and walking, but especially the converfation of the ambaffador, which you have reafon to prefer to all the pleasures in the world, at least I always found it fuperior, and not only I but all here who are celebrated for the best taste and brightestunderstandings.

I did not dare afk monf. Bonnac whether you fometimes thought about religion, I was afraid the answer might not be as I could with; but I am willing to flatter myself that as you are defirous of being an honest man, you will perceive you cannot be fo without rendering to God the things that are God's.' You know religion; I may even fay, you know how good and pleasant a thing it is, therefore it is not poffible but you should love it. Forgive me if I enlarge a little on this fubject fometimes; you know how much I have it at heart, and, I can affure you, the farther I advance in life, the more I find there is nothing in this world fo valuable as a confcience void of offence towards God and towards man, and to look up to God as a kind father, who will not fail us when we have need. Monf. Defpreaux, whom you are fo fond of, is more than ever of thefe fentiments fince he wrote on the love of God; and I af fure you, he is fully perfuaded himfelf of the great truths which he is defirous of teaching to others. You fometimes think my letters too fhort; but I much fear you will think this too long. Adieu.'

'

It is much to the honour both of Racine and M. Defpreaux, that though rivals in the favour of the Muses, there feems to have fubfifted the warmest friendship between them; and though each of them was an enemy to perfonal fatire, they appear, from a paffage in the following Letter, to have been no ftrangers to that innocent raillery which may be rendered of advantage amongst companions.

Monf. Bonnac will inform you of our health; for he has done us the honor to call on us often, and even fometimes dine In our little family way; he can tell you that we are all very cheerful, except your fifter, who is always troubled with the head-ach, which I fear is caufed by her great uneafinefs about

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what ftate fhe had beft fix in. I pity her greatly, and do my utmost to amufe her; but we live fo retired, that there is but little amufement with us; though the profeffes to have no defire to know more of the world; the takes no pleasure in any thing but reading, and feems quite indifferent to every thing else. The time for Nancy to be profeffed draws near, and the waits impatiently for it. Babet teftifies the like impatience, but we have determined to let her ftay but one year at the convent, and then take her home, that we may be the better judge of the reality of her fentiments. Fanny is defirous of going to her fifter Nancy, and talks of nothing elfe; the little one does not feem fo willing to leave us, the appears to have a great relifh for the world, has a great deal of wit, and talks in a manner that would furprise you; and has a turn for raillery, for which I often chide her. I intend next year to put your brother to Monf. Rollin, to whom the archbishop has intrufted the care of young monf. Noailles, Monf. Rollin has taken a lodging in the College d'Laon, Pays d'Latin, our neighbour, would have put his fon, but they thought the little boy too ftupid, which greatly offended the father.

All our brethren, the gentlemen in ordinary to the king, afk after you frequently, as do feveral officers of the guards, only monf. B feems hy, whether from diflike or timidity, I cannot tell,

Monf. Bonnac will tell you what friendship mons. Def preaux expreffes for you. He is as happy as a king in his folitude at Auteuil, or rather, as I call it, his hotel, for there is not a day paffes but there are fome new guests, and often fuch as are total ftrangers to each other; he is happy that he can thus accommodate himself to all the world; for my part, L fhould have fold the houfe long e'er this,

Now for academic news. Poor monf. Boyer is dead, aged eighty-three or eighty-four; it is faid he made more than twenty thousand verfes in his life-time; I fuppofe he might, for he did little elfe; fo that was it the custom to burn the dead, as among the Romans, he wanted no other pile than his own works, which would have made a great fire. Poor man, he died like a very good chriftian; and I must here do juftice to poor Chamalai, who, I am informed, died very penitent, renounced the play-houfe, and repented of her paft life, but was much afraid of death. This, monf. Defpreaux tells me, he had from the curate of Auteuil, who affifted at her death; for he died there.

I believe monf. l'abbe Geneft, will be chofen in monfieur Boyer's room; if he has not made fo many verfes, at least he has made much better.

I believe I fhall not go to Compeigne, having feen armies and encampments enough in my time not to be tempted to fee this. I fhall keep myfelf for the journey to Fountainbleau, and remain at rest in my own family, where I am better pleafed

to be than I ever was. Monf. Torcy appears very well difpofed to ferve you, and I am perfuaded will foon give you a proof of it. Monf. d'Noailles will alfo be pleafed with any opportunity of doing you service, and, you may fuppofe, I shall not be negligent in pointing out any that may offer; having nothing to induce me to stay at court, but my defire to see you placed in a fituation to provide for yourself without my affiftance. Your mother tells me the has feen the letter your sister has wrote to you, and that he there talks to you about religion; poor girl, you may be fure fhe has done her beft.

• Monf. Bonnac will take the trouble of bringing you thirty new louis d'ors, worth 420 livres, I would have fent you forty, as he gives us fo great an idea af your economy, but your mo ther thought thirty enough. We intend giving 4,000 livres with your fifter, who is to be a nun, befides a penfion of 200; fhe does not yet know our intention, nor does the convent. L confulted the archbishop de Sens, who fays it is very handfome, and affures me they will be very well pleafed with it; nay, that had I defigned to have given more, he fhould have op pofed it.

My health is, thank God, very good, but the violent heats make me very faint, and I feel the time draw near when I fhould think of retiring; but I preached fo much in my laft, that I fear to begin in this, and I fancy you would be glad I fhould conclude with telling you I am very well pleased with you, and have only to recommend to you to do your utmost to please the ambaffador, and to affist him in his great work; and I fhall place to my own account, all the attentions you pay to him, and I wish you to have the fame regard for him as for me, in which there will be this difference, that with him you wilt learn things a thoufand times more to your profit and advan tage than you can with me.

I find you have one quality I must approve, which is, when any except myself banter you on your little foibles, that you understand raillery, and can attack them again; but it is not enough to answer with fpirit, but we fhould profit by their raillery, and amend what is amifs. If I was to give you my own example, it was happy for me that I fpent my youth among men that spoke their minds freely, and did not spare each other's faults, and I always took care to correct those they told me of, which indeed were many, and fuch as would have rendered me very unfit for the commerce of the world.

I forgot to tell you, that I am apprehenfive that you will become too great a purchafer of books; for, befides that, a multitude confufes; it induces one to ramble from one study to another, which is often very ufclefs, and grows into a habit of being tempted to divide the attention. I remember a paffage in Cicero often quoted to me, by monf. Nicole, to deter me from the fancy of buying many books, "Non effe emacem, vectigal eft," it is a good revenue not to love to purchase; the word emacem is particularly fine, and carries much force with it.

I fuppofe you will ftretch your eye-lids when you fee the king of England for the first time; for I know how much your curiofity and attention are excited by celebrated people, and I fhall expect you send me a particular account of what you have feen.'

From a fubfequent Letter in this collection, we find that young Racine had been much noticed by the king of England, probably Charles the Second; and from the paffage alluded to, we cannot help regretting that we have not an account of this interview.

I am much charmed with the kind reception you had from the king of England, and much obliged to the ambafiador who was the occafion of it, and likewife for his fending an account of it to the king. Monf. d'Torcy has promifed me to embrace this opportunity of fpeaking in your behalf. Monf. Defpreaux is highly pleased with the account you give of the king of England.'

Subjoined to the Letters of monf. Racine to his fon, is a short account of Port Royal, extracted from his own abridgement, with a few other letters. One of these is addressed to madame de Maintenon, relative to the coolness contracted towards him by Louis XIV. and which was fuppofed to accelerate his death. In the scene of domeftic life, the Letters of monf. Racine display his character in a light the moft amiable and praifeworthy. They are in general diftinguished by fervent piety, the most tender affection for his family, and a warm attachment to his friends. Convinced of the important truths of religion, he discovers a perpetual anxiety to recommend them to the attention of his fon. That his fentiments on this subject were the genuine dictates of his heart, nothing can afford a ftronger proof than their having been maintained not only towards the close of his life, and when he had loft the favour of his fovereign, but when he basked in the sunshine of a magnificent court, and flourished in reputation as a poet. We may add that the Letters of monf. Racine form a ftriking contrast to thofe of a celebrated nobleman, written under fimilar circumftances. They are oppofite in every thing but in politeness and literary taste.

Letters to Dr. Horfley. Part II. Containing farther Evidence that the Primitive Chriftian Church was Unitarian. By Jofeph Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. 8vo. 35. 6d. Johnson. WE cannot, on this occafion, entertain our readers to more advantage, than by giving them the following clear and comprehenfive view of the different opinions, maintained by Dr. Horfley and Dr. Priestley, in the prefent controversy, as they are itated by the latter,