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as an instance, who, tho' far from a perfect painter, was entitled to more refpect from our author. His next work was LYRIC ODES on the fame fubject, with the fame severity and humour; and, we are afraid, with the fame want of candour.

During the intervals of his Odaic effufions our author produced THE LOUSIAD, a Mock-Heroic Poem, abounding in wit, humour, and ftrength; but at the fame time defective in that respect due from a fubject to his Sovereign *. Peter fhould have recollected the old adage, that "truth is not to be spoken at all times." Our author's next performance was his EPISTLE TO JAMES BOSWELL, Efq. The fubject was undoubtedly fair game, and fully justified the lafh of his Juvenalian feverity. This Poem, for novelty of imagery, ftrength of fatire, and glow of poetry, may rank with any production in our language. The next labour of his pen was BOZZY AND PIozzi, a just ridicule of vain and ignorant biographers. After this appeared ODE UPON

ODE, in which Kings, Laureats, Lords, Ladies, Knights, Fiddlers, and Amateurs, are treated with most unmerciful feverity. To this fucceeded an APOLOGETICAL POSTSCRIPT, ironically justifying the wanton ridicule of the preceding publication, and which indeed may be confidered as a witty repetition of his fatirical offences. The next work in order, as well as we can recollect, was the Second Canto of the LOUSIAD, breathing the fame fpirit of ridicule, replete with the fame novelty of imagery and ftrength of numbers. Peter Pindar's last production is entitled INSTRUCTIONS TO A CELEBRATED LAUREAT, poffeffing a vein of ironical wit and humour, equal, if not fuperior to any of his publications. Thus have we given à catalogue of the labours of our author, whofe poetical verfatility is fuch, that we find a difficulty where moft to admire him; whether he lafhes with Juvenal, fneers with Swift, laughs with Butler, fighs with Tibullus, or tells a tale with Fontaine.

SIR,

ΤΗ

To the Publisher of the EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.

HE Reverend Mr Whitaker, in his "Vindication of Mary Queen of Scots," fees forgeries fpringing up on every fide; and no wonder that he should, for, according to him, "FORGERY appears to

"have been the peculiar disease of "PROTESTANTISM," Vol.III. p. 49. Amongft his numerous detections of forgeries, there is one which merits particular attention.

He fays, Vol. III. p. 38, 39.

That

The foundation of the Loufad was a discovery made by his Majefty, one evening at fupper, of a fomething on his plate that had green peafe on it. We have endeavoured to detect the object that created fo much difguft. From the best information, we find it to have been a hair from the human head; which PETER, by a licentia poetica, couverted into a LOUSE. Thus much happened in confequence of his Majesty's discovery, viz. the cooks, fcullions, &c. &c. were forced to fubmit to the dreadful operation of fhaving, to the number of fifty, and great was their displeasure thereat. This we can vouch for; but whether 'tis a proper fubject for the poet's ridicule or not, is a queftion that may admit of fome controverfy.

Remarks on Whitaker's Vindication of Q. Mary.

That the commiffion from Francis and Mary, to make an accord with their fubjects, and the accord itself are forgeries. "All this is a for"gery," are his own unambiguous words.

His reafons for this novel affertion feem to be three:

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treaty publifhed by Rymer. Foedera, Vol. XV.

Had Mr Whitaker confulted any common French hiftorian, such as Mezeray, or Pere Daniel, he would have feen mention made of the conceffions which an unfuccessful war had rendered necessary.

But, thirdly, "All this is affert"ed to be a forgery;" for "the "commiffion is faid to have been figned at Remorentia the fecond "day of June in the year 1560,

Ift, A copy of the fuppofed commillion and accord is certified to be true by James Stewart, that is Murray, by Lord Ruthven, and by Secretary Maitland. He fays, "The " very touch of fuch villains carries" and of our reign the first and fix(6 contagion with it; and whatever paper has been under the hands of these political harpies, muft "be confidered, by every thinking "mind, to carry in its very fullness

and fatisfactorinefs of intelligence, "in its very fingularity and ampli❝tude of conceffions to the rebels, "the marks of their defiling claws "imprinted strongly upon it."

Mr Whitaker ought to have added, Cecil, the English Ambaffador in Scotland, to his lift of harpies: for Cecil marked the copy with his own hand; and it will be remembered, that he was then on the spot. But fuppofing Cecil to have been a forger of commiffions and treaties, and fuppofing Murray and Maitland to have been engaged, either as acceffaries or principals in later for geries, why fhould Lord Ruthven, who was dead before the date of thofe later forgeries, be involved in the fame charge and condemnation?

2dly, It is fuppofed, that the conceffions made to the Rebels are fo great as to imply, that they were not granted, but fomehow foitted in.

This fays nothing as to the commiflion from Francis and Mary, which was certainly granted to Montluc Bishop of Valence, and M. de Randan, of the family of Rochefoucault: it is referred to in the

"teenth. But this is a grofs error "in chronology. Mary was now, "not in the fixteenth, but in the "eighteenth year of her reign; and

as the feal of forgery upon the "paper thus comes forward with "a bold and strong relief to the eye, fo does it fhew the whole "to have been forged, when the period of its dates had been long elapfed.". Ib. p. 40.

As there can be no doubt that Montluc and Randan had a commiffion, would it not be more charitable to fuppofe, that the French minifters, or their clerks, mistook the date of Mary's acceffion?

Does Mr Whitaker mean that the figure 18 could not have been mistaken for the figure 16 in the original? or does he suppose, that an error in a date, and that a most immaterial one, proves the commiffion to have been forged by Murray and his affociate villains P

This will lead to confequences of which he is not aware. Mr Ruddiman has fhewn, in his preface to Diplomata Scotia, p. 40. not that most of the charters granted by David II. are mifdated as to year of that King's reign; fo as to them alfo, "the feal of forgery comes "forward with a bold and ftrong "relief to the eye, and those char"ters are all a forgery."

I make no doubt that the commission

miffion and accord 1560 are in the public Regifters of France, and I even fufpect that they have been printed in that country. But any further inquiry concerning this feems fuperfluous.

Some farther fpecimens may be produced hereafter, of the Gorgons, Hydras, and Chimeras dire, which disturb the imagination of Mr Whitaker.

1 am, &c.

Obfervations on M. Buffon's Character of the Indians of America, by
Mr Jefferson.

"THO
HO' the American favage,"

fays Buffon, "be nearly of the fame stature with men in polished focieties, yet this is not a fufficient exception to the general contraction of animated nature throughout the whole Continent. In the favage, the organs of generation are small and feeble. He has no hair, no beard, no ardour for the female. Though nimbler than the European, because more accustomed to running, his ftrength is not fo great. His fenfations are lefs acute; and yet he is more timid and cowardly. He has no vivacity, no activity of mind. The activity of his body is not fo much an exercise, or fpontaneous motion, as a neceffary action produced by want. Deftroy his appetite for victuals and drink, and you will at once annihilate the active principle of all his movements; he remains in ftupid repofe, on his limbs or couch, for whole days. It is eafy to discover the cause of the fcattered life of favages, and of their eftrangement from fociety. They have been refused the most precious fpark of Nature's fire: They have no ardour for women, and, of courfe, no love to mankind. Unacquainted with the most lively and most tender of all attachments, their other fenfations of this nature are cold and languid. Their love to parents and children is extremely weak. The bonds of the most intimate of all focieties, that of the fame faini

ly, are feeble; and one family has no attachment to another. Hence no union, no republic, no focial ftate, can take place among them. The phyfical caufe of love gives rife to the morality of their manners, Their heart is frozen, their fociety cold, and their empire cruel. They regard their females as fervants def tined to labour, or as beasts of bur den, whom they load unmercifully with the produce of their hunting; and oblige, without pity or gratitude, to perform labours which of ten exceed their ftrength. They have few children, and pay little attention to them. Every thing must be referred to the first cause. They are indifferent, because they are weak; and this indifference to the fex is the original stain which difgraces Nature, prevents her from expanding, and, by destroying the germs of life, cuts the root of fo ciety."

An afflicting picture, indeed! which, for the honour of human nature, I am glad to believe has no original. Of the Indian of South America I know nothing; for I would not honour with the appella, tion of knowledge what I derive from the fables published of them. Thefe I believe to be juft as true as the fables of Efop. This belief is founded on what I have feen of man, white, red, and black; and what has been written of him by authors, enlightened themfelves,

and

Character of the Indians of North America.

and writing amidst an enlightened people. The Indian of North America being more within our reach, I can speak of him fomewhat from my own knowledge, but more from the information of others better acquainted with him, and on whose truth and judgment I can rely. From these fources, I am able to fay, in contradiction to this representation, that he is neither more defective in ardour, nor more impotent with his female, than the white reduced to the fame diet and exercife: that he is brave, when an enterprize de pends on bravery; education with him making the point of honour confift in the destruction of an enemy by ftratagem, and in the prefervation of his own perfon free from injury or perhaps this is nature;

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while it is education which teaches us to honour force more than fineffe: that he will defend himself against an hoft of enemies; always chufing to be killed rather than to t furrender, tho' it be to the whites, who he knows will treat him well: that in other fituations alfo he meets death with more deliberation, and endures tortures with a firmness unknown almoft to religious enthusiasm with us: that he is affectionate to his children, careful of them, and indulgent in the extreme: that his affections comprehend his other connections, weakening, as with us, from circle to circle, as they recede from the center: that his friendships are strong and faithful to the uttermoft extremity: that his fenfibility is keen; even the warriors weeping

Ariofto. 14. 117.

• Sol Rodomonte fprezza di venire Se non, dove la via meno è ficura. In fo judicious an author as Don Ulloa, and one to whom we are indebted for the most precife information we have of South America, I did not expect to find fuch affertions as the following: Los Indios vencidos fon los mas cobardes y pufilanimes que fe peuden vérfe hacen inocentes, fe humillan hafta el defprecio, difculpah fu inconfiderado arrojo, y con las súplicas y los ruegos dan feguras pruebas de fu pufilanimidad.ó lo que refieren las hiftorias de la Conquif ta, fobre fus grandes acciones, es en un fentido figurado, ó el caracter de eftas gentes no es ahora fegun era entonces; pero lo que no tiene duda es, que las Naciones de la parte Septentrional fubfiften en la misma libertad que fiempre han tenido, fin haber fido fojuzgados por algun Principe extrano, y que viven fegun fu régimen y coftumbres de toda la vida, fin que haya habido motivo para que muden de caracter; y en eftos fe ve lo mismo, que fucede en los del Peru, de toda la América Meridional, reducidos, y que nunca lo han estado.' Noticias Americanas. Entretenimiento XVIII. §. i. Don Ulloa here admits, that the authors who have described the Indians of South America, before they were en flaved, had reprefented them as a brave people, and therefore feems to have fufpected that the cowardice which he had obferved in those of the present race might be the effect of fubjugation. But fuppofing the Indians of North America to be cowards alfo, he concludes the ancestors of thofe of South America to have been fo too, and therefore that those authors have given fictions for truths. He was probably not acquainted himself with the Indians of North America, and had formed his opinion of them from hear-fay. Great numbers of French, of English, and of Americans, are perfectly acquainted with thefe people. Had he had an opportunity of inquiring of any of thefe, they would have told him, that there never was an instance known of an Indian begging his life when in the power of his enemies on the contrary, that he courts death by every poffible infult and provocation. His reafoning then would have been reverfed thus : the prefent Indian in North America is brave, and authors tell us, that the anceftors of thofe of South America were brave alfo; it must follow, that the cowardice of their defcendants is the effect of fubjugation and ill treatment. For he obferves, ib. §. 27 that los obrages los aniquilan por la inhumanidad con que fe les trata.'

• Sinee

A remarkable inftance of this appeared in the cafe of the late Col. Byrd, who was fent to the Cherokee nation to tranfact fome bufinefs with them. It VOL. VI. No 33.

U

happened

weeping moft bitterly on the lofs of and of hunting, child-bearing be

their children, though in general they endeavour to appear fuperior to human events: that his vivacity and activity of mind is equal to ours in the fame fituation; hence his eagerness for hunting, and for games of chance. The women are fubmitted to unjust drudgery. This I believe is the cafe with every barbarous people. With fuch, force is law. The ftronger fex therefore imposes on the weaker. It is civilization alone which replaces women in the enjoyment of their natural equality. That first teaches us to fubdue the feififh paffions, and to refpect the rights in others which we value in ourselves. Were we in equal barbarifm, our females would be equal drudges. The man with them is lefs ftrong than with us, but their woman ftronger than ours; and both for the fame obvious reafon; because our man and their woman is habituated to labour, and formed by it. With both races the fex which is indulged with ease is least athletic. An Indian man is fmall in the hand and wrift for the fame reafon for which a failor is large and ftrong in the arms and fhoulders, and a porter in the legs and thighs. They raise fewer children than we do. The caufes of this are to be found, not in a difference of nature, but of circumftance. The women very frequently attend ing the men in their parties of war,

comes extremely inconvenient to them. It is faid, therefore, that they have learnt the practice of procuring abortion by the ufe of fome vegetable; and that it even extends to prevent conception for a confiderable time after. During these parties they are expofed to numerous hazards, to exceffive exertions, to the greateft extremities of hunger. Even at their homes the nation depends for food, through a certain part of every year, on the gleanings of the foreft: that is, they experience a famine once in every year. With all animals, if the female be badly fed, or not fed at all, her young perifh and if both male and female be reduced to like want, generation becomes lefs active, lefs productive. To the obftacles then of want and hazard, which nature has oppofed to the multiplication of wild animals, for the purpose of reftraining their numbers within certain bounds, thofe of labour and of voluntary abortion are added with the Indian. No wonder then they multiply lefs than we do. Where food is regularly fupplied, a fingle farm will fhew more of cattle, than a whole country of forefts can of buffaloes, The fame Indian women, when married to white traders, who feed them and their children plentifully and regularly, who exempt them from exceffive drudgery, who keep them ftation

ary

happened that fome of our diforderly people had juft killed one or two of that nation. It was therefore propofed in the council of the Cherokees that Col. Byrd fhould be put to death, in revenge for the lofs of their countrymen. Among them was a chief called Silòuee, who, on fome former occafion, had contracted an acquaintance and friendship with Col. Byrd. He came to him every night in his tent, and told him not to be afraid, they fhould not kill him. After many days deliberation, however, the determination was, contray to Silòuee's expectation, that Byrd fhould be put to death, and fome warriors were dispatched as executioners. Silòuee attended them, and when they entered the tent, he threw himself between them and Byrd, and faid to the warriors,This man is my friend; before you get at him, you must kill me.' On which they returned, and the council refpected the principle fo much as to recede from their deter

mination.

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