posted above five Hundred Men, who by the Orders of their Engineers, entrench'd themselves; which the Company of Officers perceiving, who always grasp'd after Honour, and scorned all Thoughts of Danger, resolved to wade the River, and attack the Germans in the Island; and for that effect, desired Captain John Foster, who then commanded them, to beg of the Marquess that they might have Liberty to attack the Germans in the Island, who told Captain Foster, when the Boats came up, they should be the first that attacked: Foster courteously thanked the Marquess, and told him they would wade into the Island, who shrunk up his Shoulders, pray'd God to bless them, and desired them to do what they pleas'd. Captain Foster went immediately to the Company of Officers, who with the other two got privately to their Arms, it being under Night, and ty'd their Arms, Shoes, and Stockings about their Necks, advanced quietly to the Banks of the River, went softly in, and waded Hand in Hand, according to the Highland Fashion, where the Water was as high as their Breasts; and as soon as they past the depth of the River, they halted, unty'd their Cartouch-boxes and Fire-locks (all this while the Germans, in the Island, were very busy in entrenching themselves); then they marched with rested Firelocks, and poured in a whole Voley of Shot on them, at which Surprize, the Enemy ran in Confusion, broke down their own Bridges, and several of them were drowned; the Officers pursuing them close, killed several of them. When the Marquess de Sell heard the firing, and understood that the Germans were beat out of the Island, he made the Sign of the Cross on his Face and Breast, and declared publickly that it was the bravest Action that ever he saw, and that his Army had no Honour by it.

As soon as the Boats came, the Marquis sent into the Island to acquaint the Officers, he would send them both Troops and Provisions, who thanked his Excellency, and desired he should be informed that they wanted no Troops, and could not spare time to make Use of Provisions, and only desired Spades, Shovels, and Pickaxes, wherewith they might entrench themselves, which were immediately sent to them. The next Morning, the Marquess came into the Island, and kindly embraced every Officer, and thanked them for the good Service they had done his Master, assuring them, he would write a true Account of their Honour and Bravery, to the Court of France, which at the reading his Letters, immediately went to St. Germains,

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and thanked King James for the Services his Subjects had done on the Rhine.

The Marquess gave every one of the Company of Officers, a Pistole, and they encamp'd six Weeks on that Island, when it was covered with Snow, and there were no Fires to be kindled in the Night time, neither durst any Man sleep under Pain of Death. General Stirk made several Attempts to surprize the Island, and pass the Rhine, but the Officers were so watchful, that all his Endeavours were in vain, so that he was forced to decamp, and retreat to the Country, and that Island is called at present, Isle d'Escosce [Scotch Island], and will in liklyhood bear that Name until the General Conflagration.

HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE.

BY WILLIAM COLLINS.

How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mold,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung:
There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay,
And Freedom shall awhile repair
To dwell a weeping hermit there!

LETTERS ON THE STUDY AND USE OF HISTORY.

ter.

BY BOLINGBROKE.

[HENRY ST. JOHN, VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE, English statesman and philosopher, was born at Battersea in 1678; graduated at Oxford. Entering public life in 1700, he became Secretary for War and later Secretary of State, during the War of the Spanish Succession; and negotiated the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. In 1714 he ousted his colleague Harley (Lord Oxford), and became chief minisFive days later Queen Anne died; George I. at once removed Bolingbroke; the latter fled to France to escape impeachment, leagued himself with the Pretender, and became his Secretary of State. In 1723 he returned to England, but was not allowed to resume his seat in the House of Lords. The rest of his life was spent in political agitation, in philosophic and polemic writing, and in justifying his own career. He died December 12, 1751. He gave Pope

many of the ideas for the “Essay on Man," and was a leading Deist. His oratory was said by his contemporaries to have surpassed that of every other man. Of his collected works, the best remembered are: "A Dissertation upon Parties," "The Idea of a Patriot King," and "Letters on the Study and Use of History."]

CONCERNING THE TRUE USE AND ADVANTAGES OF IT.

LET me say something of history in general before I descend into the consideration of particular parts of it, or of the various methods of study, or of the different views of those that apply themselves to it, as I had begun to do in my former letter.

The love of history seems inseparable from human nature because it seems inseparable from self-love. The same principle in this instance carries us forward and backward, to future and to past ages. We imagine that the things which affect us must affect posterity: this sentiment runs through mankind, from Cæsar down to the parish clerk in Pope's "Miscellany." We are fond of preserving, as far as it is in our frail power, the memory of our own adventures, of those of our own time, and of those that preceded it. Rude heaps of stone have been raised, and ruder hymns have been composed, for this purpose, by nations who had not yet the use of arts and letters. To go no farther back, the triumphs of Odin were celebrated in runic songs, and the feats of our British ancestors were recorded in those of their bards. The savages of America have the same custom at this day and long historical ballads of their huntings and their wars are sung at all their festivals. There is no need of saying how this passion grows, among civilized nations, in proportion to the means of gratifying it: but let us observe that the same principle of nature directs us as strongly, and more generally as well as more early, to indulge our own curiosity, instead of preparing to gratify that of others. The child hearkens with delight to the tales of his nurse: he learns to read, and he devours with eagerness fabulous legends and novels: in riper years he applies himself to history, or to that which he takes for history, to authorized romance: and, even in age, the desire of knowing what has happened to other men yields to the desire alone of relating what has happened to ourselves. Thus history, true or false, speaks to our passions always. What pity is it, my lord, that even the best should speak to our understanding so seldom? That it does so, we have none to blame but ourselves. Nature has done her part. She has opened this study to every man who can read and think: and what she has made the most