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Church , in the city of Amsterdam . Meaning to sell his books by auction , Dr . Pierson gives a Catalogue Raisonud of them , which he announces iC as a
perpetual Vade Mecum , for young clergymen and students in divinity . " While we lament the necessity which drives a learned man to part with his books , we cannot but censure the
vanity , the want ofjudgment and the indelicate puffing which appear in the pages of the catalogue . Under the article ( No . 913 ) , " Priestley ' s History of the Corruptions of Christianity , is the following Note :
" This book was burnt by the hands of the common hangman , in the city ofDort , Province of Holland , Anno 1785—a piece of intelligence communicated by me to Dr . Priestley , in the Hotel , where I lodged in Birmingham , in a conversation I had the
pleasure of having with that extraordinary man , a few weeks after that event . Having asked me withjnuch earnestness , how he would be received in Holland , were he to appear there , I told him , I did not exactly know how they might treat the original ,, but
that he himself might be able to determine that point , when I had told him that he had been burnt in effigy at Dort , a few weeks before 1 left Holland—a person ' s writings being often received as a picture of his mind , tlie burning of his Corruptions might be easily considered as burning
himselfin effigy . He deplored our ignorance and blindness . —A greater philanthropist T never met with . —Should the Refutation of Calvinism ever find its way to Dort , that celebrated Inquisition for Arminianis ? n , lam apt to think it would share the same fate
with Priestley ' s " Corruptions of Christianity , " and that Jack Ketch would make much shorter work with it than the Drs . E . Williams and Thomas Scott . " ( p . 111 . ) The Bishop of Lincoln ' s book , here
alluded to , appears to have disturbed Dr . Peirson ' s mind exceedingly , when he was preparing his catalogue for his auctioneers , who must somewhat wonder at the theological comments tacked to some of the articles .
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History of the Civil Wars of France , " described in my last paper , forming "together a suitable introduction to the henriade . " The author remarks that " we hsve in every art more rules than examples , for men are more
fond of teaching than able to perform . " He adds , that " there are more commentators than poets , and many writers who could not make two verses , have overcharged us with voluminous
treatises of poetry / ' In his opinion , " ' tis $ o wonder if surh lawgivers , unequal to the burthen which they took upon themselves , have embroiled the states which they intended to regulate . " P . 37 .
The Essayist treats the critics very freely through the succeeding pages , and concisely decides that " an Epic Poem ought to be grounded upon judgment , and embellished by imagination , " and that " what belongs to good sense belongs to all the nations of the world . " P . 40 . Of Homer and
Virgil he says , we should be their admirers not their slaves , " and that " our just respect for the ancients proves a mere superstition , if it betrays us into a rash contempt of our neighbours and countrymen , " for " we ought not to do such an injury to
nature as to shut our eyes to ml the beauties that her hands pour around us in order to look back fixedly on her former productions . ' P . 46 He mentions the subjects now at the
command of an epic poet , but which were unknown to the ancients , " the invention of gunpowder , the compass , printing , " and " so many arts besides new emerged into the world , " which " have altered the face of the universe . " P . 45
Proceeding to describe " the epic writers in their respective countries from Homer down to Milton , " Voltaire professes that he can " but faintly touch the first lines of their
pictures , ' * and modestly requests the reader to look with some indulgence on the diction of this Essay , and pardon the failings of one , who has learned English but one year , of one who has drawn most of his observations from
books written in England , and who pays to the country but part of what he owes to her . " P . 47 . I reluctantly pass Over the series of epic poets , before Milton , yet , I apprehend , I cannot render this pap er more interesting than by quoting , ^ most entire , the Critique on our coun-
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96 Book-Worm . No . XVI 1 L
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Book-Worm . No . XVIII . Sir , Feb . 3 * 1615 . VO LTAIRE'S " Essay on E pic Poetry" immediately follows "The
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1815, page 96, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1757/page/32/
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