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life confined him within doors, he spent much of his time in his laboratory, (for he was a great chemist,) where he employed himself in running a process for the fixing of.mercury. In the evenings on ordinary days, he had his companions in private, to make him merry, at the Dutchess of Portsmouth's, Chiffinch's and Bess May's !* It may appear superfluous thus minutely to particularize his habits and amusements, but we know not whether the character of a man is not as clearly manifested in the little detail of private life, as in the more important concerns of public business. Charles II. and his grandfather Henry IV. are the only monarchs of our acquaintance who appear to have possessed the power of stripping themselves entirely of their royalty, and taking up the habits, and along with them the feeling, and comforts, and sympathies, of private individuals. It was the ambition of each, whilst sitting on a throne, and swaying the sceptre of a mighty kingdom, to live as happily and pleasantly as any of their subjects; nor during these intervals of privacy did uneasy recollections of their own importance and grandeur ever obtrude themselves upon their quiet: but here all comparison ends; Charles was adapted by nature for the sphere of a private gentleman, and for that only-whilst Henry, equally well fitted to shine in the domestic circle, was, as soon as he had stepped out of it, formed to play the part of the greatest of kings.

To conclude this account of Charles's private life and habits, with a brief description of his person, may not be unacceptable to the reader.

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"Of a tall stature, and of sable hue,

Much like the son of Kish, that lofty grew,"

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sings Andrew Marvell in doggrel rhyme; and what is wanting to complete the picture is supplied by Evelyn, from whom we learn, that his countenance was fierce, his voice great, proHe was," says per of person, every motion became him.” Sheffield, an illustrious exception to all the common rules of physiognomy; for, with a most saturnine harsh sort of countenance, he was both of a merry and merciful disposition."The first we allow-the last we deny-but here, for the present, we will terminate the discussion; and, as the life of the merry monarch is a fruitful source of varied and powerful interest, with leave of the reader, we will resume the inquiry at a more convenient season.

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LONDON:

PRINTED BY D. S. MAURICE, FENCHURCH-STREET.

THE

Retrospective Review.

VOL. VII. PART II.

ART. I.-Britain's Remembrancer; containing a Narrative of the Plague lately past, a Declaration of the Mischiefs present, and a Prediction of Judgements to come, (if Repentance prevent not.) It is dedicated (for the glory of God) to Posteritie, and to these times (if they please) by Geo. Wither.

Job xxxii. 8, 9, 10, 18, 21, 22.

Surely, there is a spirit in man; but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding.

Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged always understand judgement.

Therefore, I say, hear me, and I will shew also my opinion.

For I am full of matter; and the spirit within me compelleth me. I will not accept the person of man, neither will I give flattering titles to man.

For I may not give flattering titles, lest my Maker take me away suddenly.

READ ALL, OR CENSURE NOT.

For he that answereth a matter before he hear it, it is shame and folly to him. Prov. xviii. 13.

Imprinted for Great Britaine, and are to be sold by John Grismond, in Ivie Lane. 1628.

Relation Historique, de tout ce qui s'est passé en Marseilles pendant la dernière peste. 12mo. 1723.

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Histoire de la dernière peste de Marseilles, Ain, Arles, et Toulon, par Martin. 12mo. 1732.

A Historical Relation of the Plague at Marseilles in the year 1720; containing a circumstantial Account of the Rise and Progress of the Calamity, and the Ravages it occasioned; with many curious and interesting Particulars relative to that Period. Translated from the French Manuscript of M. Bertrand, Physician at Marseilles, who attended during the whole time of the Malady. By Anne Plumptre. London, 1805.

The Plague of Athens, which happened in the second year of the Peloponnesian War. First described in Greek by Thucydides, then in Latin by Lucretius, since attempted in English by the Right Reverend Father in God, Thomas (Sprat,) Lord Bishop of Rochester. 1709.

In a former number, when we were attempting, with the aid of Defoe, to give a picture of London under the visitation of the Plague, we alluded to the writers who had considered this terrible malady a noble subject for the display of their poetic genius, and, at the same time, promised to examine its capabilities in this respect, in a future article, and to collect some specimens of the manner in which it had been treated by the principal poets who had made it their theme. There can be no doubt, that the gigantic and tremendous ravages of this disorder elevate it far above the rank of ordinary and ignoble maladies, and render it a fine field for the developement of poetical power. No scene in which man can be placed affords situations more awful or pathetic, or which call upon our common nature for a deeper sympathy. The plague is as a moral earthquake; it suddenly changes the face of man's nature, it dissolves the oldest and most sacred ties, it overturns the most established virtues, and, in an instant, fills a whole people with ruin and desolation. While the infliction lasts, there is a tragedy in every house; the city where it happens is a vast theatre, on which tens of thousands are acting the last fatal scenes; on one plagueday as many awful passions are roused, as occur in a century of healthful ages. Murder is vulgar; it is an unnecessary trouble; the great murderer is at work; wait a few seconds, and your victim will fall, plague-struck, under your hands. They who reckoned upon spending whole lives together are suddenly rent asunder; the lover sees his beloved die before him, or perhaps they die in each other's sight, each departing on different journies, or, what is worse, he who would have died the day before for the salvation of the one he adored, now loathes her; avoids, or, may be, forcibly drives her from him with

horror and disgust. She who yesterday hung caressing upon a husband's neck, to-day does the last kind office, by dragging his body from her presence by a rope. Some boldly determine to die together, and plunge into one another's arms, and meet a common death, giving and taking the poison of infection. Others, under the influence of despair, sit down to meet their enemy, thus inviting his stroke; others, but wounded by his unerring blow, wander raving and lunatic, unharming others, for the grass is growing in the market-place, and in the busiest scenes of bustle there is a deadly and unnatural tranquillity. In short, the finest and the most appalling events of all antiquity are crowded together into one brief space-in a single week all the events in the long roll of the history of human passions are run over, far too rapidly for the pen of the witness to record them. If then the history of one fatal crime, or of the calamities of one unfortunate sufferer, have been such instruments in the hand of the poet, what a million-headed tragedy is the plague? The robber, the ravisher, the miser, the hero, the devotee, the impostor, the unnatural father or mother, the impetuous lover, the insidious villain, the faithful friend, the angelic female, the lustful hypocrite, all perform their parts, and show themselves in their true colours. The mask is dropped, there is no time for duplicity, the shortest way to the end desired must be pursued when the time for all is so brief. As for changes of fortune, no period is so rich as this; the distant heir in a day sees all obstacles removed between him and immense wealth, but alas! he dies in taking possession; the poor are rich, and the rich are poor, for he who has lands and houses, unless he have money, is poor indeed. He rolls in wealth he cannot touch, and his wife or child may die for "a drachm of Mithridate" before he can avail himself of a farthing. Credit is gone, for both the debtor and creditor will shift the scene before the bill is paid; the acknowledged thief prowls about with impunity, because judge, and jury, and witness, are in all probability doomed to death before the day of trial. When such are the incidents of the plague, together with a host of others even more remarkable, can we wonder that many poets have taken the idea from Thucydides, and presented the subject in various points of view? Of the narration of Thucydides, we have already spoken. He appears to have been the first who found occasion to dwell upon the horrors of the plague. He did so in a manner to leave nothing to be desired. Lucretius observed the richness of the materials, and worked them into his poem, On the Nature of Things. Virgil wrote a rival description of a plague among cattle, in the Georgics; and Ovid has made use of some characteristic touches in the Metamorphoses. The subject is alluded to by other classical poets. Statius,

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