altered the pristine mode of feudal fucceffion, and confequently deprived of their rights the family of Filangieri, which indifputably was the legal fucceffor.

Young Filangieri foon became fenfible that it was neceffary for him to acquire the useful attainments of fome learned profeffions, to fupport the dignity of his birth, and to compenfate for the want of a large patrimony. Accordingly he was bred to the law; the employment of an advocate being in the highest repute at Naples, and paving the way to fuch confiderable emoluments, that even individuals of the first nobility do not difdain to follow it. He perceived, however, very foon, that the philofophical turn of his mind was not adapted to the bustle of business, and least of all for the chicaneries of the bar; he accordingly turned his mind to fome other means of acquir. ing property, and alfo of fatisfying his paffion for literary fame, which had now become very predominant, His prefent Sicilian majefty was in his youth greatly delighted with military parade, and from the year 1771 to 1774 he raifed two new regiments, in which only the nobility and gentry were admitted; the rank and commiffion of officer was alfo, by the standing etiquette of the regiments, to be granted to no individual who did not belong to the privileged caft of peers. Whatever might have been the merit of thefe military gentlemen in the dangers and laborious exertions of their profeffion in time of war, they were certainly well calculated to reflect the greatest splendor on the majesty of a court, in public ceremonies, in time of peace. Two numerous regiments, compofed of young perfons from the age of fixteen to twenty, of a tall ature, richly and elegantly dreffed,

distinguished by the luftre of their birth, and commanded by officers of the firft nobility, difplaying in martial pomp all the magnificence characteristic of the South of Italy, afforded a fuperb view, fuperior, in the judgment of many travellers, to any thing of the kind known in other countries. Filangieri was appointed an officer in one of thefe regiments, which was called of the Liparots; and if he yielded to his comrades in the paraphernalia of drefs, he certainly excelled moft of them in comeliness and elegance of pcrfon.

Much about the fame time, in Nov. 1774, he had an opportunity of difplaying his attainments in civil and political jurifprudence. By an edict from the king.it was ordered, that, in order to provide fome remedy for the overgrown abufes of the tribunals, and to the intolerable defpotifm of the fupreme courts of juftice, every definitive fentence fhould be juftified, by quoting fome text from the Roman, canonical, or common law, on which it was grounded. Filangieri hereupon published a pamphlet, entitled-Reflections on the King's Edict, &c.

In the year 1775, his uncle, Seraphim Filangieri, archbishop of Pa lermo, who had occafionally been alfo viceroy of Sicily, being promot ed to the archbishopric of Naples, and to the dignity of prior of the Conftantinian Order, inherent to the archbishopric; young Filangieri obtained, without difficulty, by the favour of his uncle, a rich commandery in that Order, and thus was enabled to devote the whole of his time to literary pursuits.

In 1781, he publifhed the two firft volumes of his learned workThe Science of Legiflation, &c. It gained him a great reputation in Italy, and his name foon paffed beyond

the

the Alps. The third volume, however, which appeared in 1783, exalted his literary and legal character to the highest pitch. It contained for the most part a review of criminal jurifprudence, with ftric ́tures on the numberlefs abuses to which perfonal liberty was expofed, by fuch a motley tiffue of incoherent and abfurd proceedings.

Much about the fame time, Filangieri became enamoured of a young lady, of German extraction, maid of honour to her majefty. She was a fenfible and virtuous perfon, and worthy the affections of a man of honour. But, unfortunately for her, fhe had no fortune, and wholly depended upon a penfion from the court. When the match was on the point of being concluded, the queen, who has always been very tenacious of the decorum of noble families, and who was confequently fenfible that a marriage between two perfons in high station, without fortune, might be productive of difagreeable or inconvenient refults, interpofed all her influence to fruftrate their union. What do you mean to do with your children? faid the to the lady Are they alfo to become authors to earn their fubfiftence? Notwithftanding, however, the difapprobation of her majefty, the match was actually concluded.

Truth obliges us to acknowledge, that his prefent Sicilian majefty, though no adept himfelf, and never initiated in the fciences, has always fhewn himself duly confcious of their importance, being the admirer and protector of learned men, and never expreffing difpleafure at the ftrictures of a rational philofophy directed against court intrigues or the abufe of defpotic power. In this refpect, he may lay claim to as large a fhare of native good fenfe and liberality

of thinking, as any contemporary European fovereign. This was actually experienced by Filangieri. In the year 1786, he was appointed counfellor of the finances, an employment only intended as a step to more eminent dignities.

Filangieri did not long enjoy his dignity, and the profpect of farther preferments. While his official duties required him to bestow the greateft part of his time in state affairs and public audiences, he appropriat

ed the remainder to the continuation of his works, and to the sketching out of new literary avocations and pursuits. This confiderably impaired his health. As he kept a country feat in Caftellammare, on the eastern fide of the Crater, in the courfe of his paffing to and from Naples by water, he caught a violent cold, which being followed by a fever and other maladies, terminated his life in June 1788, in the 37th year of his age.

Filangieri was in perfon very handfome, tall in ftature, with an oblong countenance. His eyes were uncommonly beautiful, and evinced a fweetnefs, which corres ponded with the gentleness and candour of his heart. He was an accomplished moral character; reli, gious, hofpitable, beneficent and artlefs, and not feldom expofed to the felfish defigns of crafty perfons who procured access to him.

His literary abilities deferve a farther notice. He was, without doubt, a learned and well informed man, and much addicted to study, But his natural genius has probably been over-rated. From an accurate analyfis of his works, it may easily be gathered, that his predominant intellectual power was memory; that his powers of imagination were not vigorous; that his want of ftric

method

cinating works of genius, to peruse now and then, the lives of their illfated authors. The melancholy biography of mere men of letters in all countries would teach them that genius, like virtue, muft look to futurity alone for its fure reward; and that however exulting may have been its matin fong, in the morning of life, its evening lays have almost invaria bly been the mournful dirge of difap. pointed hopes.

For my own part, I cannot fee any new train of aggravated obftacles thrown in the way of the American fcholar. But as one of our firft literary characters has been extremely copious in his invectives on the fubject, and fent abroad a frightful caricature of his country, in which none but the jaundice eyed can difcover the least refemblance to the original; it may not be improper to attempt to wipe away the stain, though I have not the ability to draw a true picture.

The ingenious and truly claffic Editor of the Farmer's Museum or Lay Preacher's Gazette, is the perfon to whom I allude. While the correct and elegant writings of this gentleman, have made his name dear to the amateur, the feeling friend of, America would rafe from the lift of her legitimate fons the name which has given circulation and fanction to fo many groundless libels upon the character of his country. I fhall confine myself principally to the paper, which has flourished under his editorial care, to confute the charges of which it has been the vehicle. This paper, which has been replete with the bittereft farcafis upon the genius, tafte, and liberality of Americans, has afforded the most convincing proofs of thofe ornamental qual ities, which it denies to form a part

of their character.

Patronized by a copious lift of. fubfcribers, throughout the United States, the greater part of whom could have no other motive than the love of letters, and a wish to encourage the Editor, it has conftantly complained of the fcanty patronage afforded to men of genius and talents. Fraught with original productions, and elegant extracts, which have been read with avidity in every part of the continent, and which would have done honour to the most refined countries of Europe, it has confuted its fevere reproaches upon the ftupidity and fordid difpofition of our citizen's, by demonstrating, that there are among them a refpectable number of writers, who know how to blend the "pleafing with the use-. ful," and numerous readers, who have judgment to difcern, inclination to peruse, and a disposition to reward the works of him, who, while he improves the state of his fellow creatures, cultivates the vineyard of literature.

The Editor of the above paper, and every candidate for literary fame, in this country, ought to premife certain data, that will abridge their hafty calculations, which in common with those of the fame clafs, in other places, are generally too extravagant.

They refult from the state of our country. America, perfonified, is a vigorous young man, caft upon the world, without the guidance of a parent, or the aid of a friend, whom neceffity has compelled to choose the foreft, as the scene of his present enterprise, and future grandeur ;whofe perfevering industry has been uncommonly fuccefsful in fubduing the wilderness, and reaping from the bountiful foil an ample reward, in the neceffaries of life; and who has been equally intent, and not lefs fuccessful, in furnishing his mind with

every kind of knowledge, which his circumftances would admit, or his fituation required.

America, in this fituation, feems to addrefs our writers in becoming language. "At all events, my ftores must be replenished; as foon as I am able, my library fhall be enlarged. The laborious ploughman, and the hardy failor, who expofes his life on the ocean for my intereft, must be honourably paid, in preference to thofe, who voluntarily wield the pen for my amufement. If your writings have a manifeft tendency to increafe the happiness and advance the honor and dignity of my citizens, you fhall not regret the time you have devoted to my fervice. I refer you to the patronage of thofe works, which have fimplified and improved the European fyftem of inftruction, and facilitated the education of youth; to those laborious and useful productions which have furnished my citizens with the geographical knowledge of their native foil, the hiftory of their particular ftate, and the spirit of the laws and policy congenial to their habits and intereft. From thefe, you may judge of the paft my future patronage thall not be lefs generous.

"When, in more advanced age, the produce of my affiduous labor has put me in poffeffion of affluence and cafe, I will then confer an am ple reward, not only on the laborious and ufeful, but the amufing writer. But, remember, at prefent, I pledge myself only for the ufeful. If I occafionally purchase the works of fancy and the flowers of tafte; it is from the impulfe, perhaps, the whim, of the occafion. It is out of my ufual line; and ought to be confidered as a gratuity. I muft therefore be candid, and tell you plainly, that in my prefent fituation, if you continue to draw your extravagant

PP

bills upon me, for your mere fancy ware, I shall in no cafe bind myself to answer them. If another country affords a better market for your fine commodities, you are at liberty to offer them for fale, and I advise you to quit my territory."

This appears to be the emphatic and rational language of America! She pledges all that generofity can af ford and that prudence would justify.

Perhaps it would be better for the world, and as well for the writer, if his hopes were still more circumfcribed, and the idea of pecuniary emolument entirely excluded. It is the fimple, nutritive aliment of the mind, that invigorates the man, and ftrengthens the bonds of fociety. For my own part, I fee, or fancy I can fee, much more evil, than good, arifing from the luxuries of learning.

Authorthip" never flourishes as a profeffion, till idleness becomes a trade.

Who would not choose to fee the daughters of Columbia employed with the needle and diftaff, rather than to fee them, "from morn to eve, from eve to morn," led through fairy fields, to the bedlam of the novelift, or the "Enchanted Caftle" of Madam Ratcliff? Who would not rather fee our own fex intent on the farm, or in the counting room,, adding ftrength, riches to the nation, than to view them from day to day,, like the literary epicure, rummaging a library, gormandizing without digefting, and more abfurd than the mifer, hoarding up treasures of ideas, which are not communicated to others, and cannot, unless he becomes author, defcend to pofterity?

And who does not lament that the great geniufes of Europe, whofe lives have been spent in fomething worfe than " bufy idlenefs," and whofe works have been fostered by a more than prodigal patronage, have generated