either then living or dead; and, though dead, the Romans had fuch a juft veneration for their ancestors, that they would hear, with the greatest pleasure, such men as Scipio, Laelius, and Cato fpeaking: And, I think, it is true what Cicero fays, that fuch illuftrious men gave more gravity and dignity to what was faid, than it could otherwife have had. And he adds,

Ipfe, mea legens, fic afficior interdum, ut • Catonem, non me, loqui exiftimem *' This appears to me to be a great advantage, which Cicero in his dialogues has over Plato; for, unless it be Socrates and Alcibiades, there is hardly any person of eminence who speaks in his dialogues. The reft are all burghers of Athens, of whom we know nothing, itinerant fophifts, fuch as Gorgias and Protagoras, or nameless ftrangers.

My other obfervation is, that there is a politenefs in Cicero's dialogues, which I do not find in thofe of Plato; for the iro

*Laelius in initio.

nical manner of Socrates, though it must have been very pleasant to the by-ftanders, could not have been agreeable to those with whom he converfed, as the tendency of it was to show their vanity and ignorance, or, in other words, to make fools of them; whereas in Cicero the perfonages treat one another with the greatest respect, however much they may differ in opinion. Craffus, in the laft book De Oratore, finds fault with fome things in the manner of speaking both of Cotta and Sulpicius; but does it in fo gentle and fo friendly a manner, that they both think themselves obliged to him for his obfervation. The praises they bestow upon one another seem to be all fincere and to proceed from the heart, without the leaft appearance of flattery or fervility: And of themfelves they speak with the moft becoming modefty. In short, I do not know that there is any where to be found a better school for politenefs, than the dialogues of Cicero.

Another thing which pleases me very much in Cicero's writings upon eloquence and philofophy is, that they are almost all

of them infcribed to fome friend, fuch as Brutus, Pomponius Atticus, Varro; and his best work, as I think, of the dialogue kind, the three books De Oratore, is dedicated to his brother. To all these works there are prefaces in which he converfes with thefe friends in the moft friendly manner; and which convinces me, that he had really a heart capable of friendship, the greatest gift that I think God and nature could have bestowed upon him, especially in the times in which he lived, the miseries of which, he fays himself, he could not have fupported without philofophy and friendfhip. And I would have thofe, who live in the present times, confider, whether it be poffible to live a happy life without the aid of philofophy, and the fociety and friendship of men of worth and knowledge, fuch as those with whom Cicero lived,

СНАР. VIII.

Of Lord Shaftesbury's dialogue, entitled The Moralifts;-this a compleat dramatical piece in all its parts;—better divided as to time, than fome dialogues of Plato. Of the different characters in it.-The first day's converfation a pro-` per introduction to what is principal in the piece, viz. the converfion of a Sceptic to theifm.-The fecond day's converfation is divided into four parts :-The first is of Philocles with Theocles in the morning, alone;-The fecond at dinner, when two new characters are introduced;-The third is in the fields, when Theocles, in a long difcourfe, demonftrates the existence of God from his works.-Here the catastrophe of the piece begins.-The Sequel of this converfation contains confequences from what had been before demonftrated.-The fourth converfation of the fecond day is upon the fubject of mira

cles and prodigies.-This converfation agreeably varied with refpect to the Speakers as well as the fubject.Of the third day's converfation of Philocles with Theocles alone.-The fcene the fame as where they met the first day-Of the Rhapsodies of Theocles in this converfation, and the ftile of them ;-not incredible to those who have heard the Italian rhapfodifts.-Subject of the first rhapsody is an invocation of Divinity;-of the fecond, a defcription of that vivifying power, which pervades all nature:-The third has for its Subject the elements and minerals :-The fourth contains a defcription of the different countries of the earth, and the various appearances of nature in them.-Betwixt fome of the rhapsodies, a great deal of cool reafoning and dialogue in the Socratic way of question and answer is interfperfed. Conclufion of the work fuitable to the main defign of it;-contains, Imo, An account of Beauty, and the feveral kinds of it ;-fhows that all beauty is refolvable into the Supreme Beauty of the firft Being.-Beauty produces admiration, and Admiration enthufiafm.-Of the feve