Reprint Of Scarce, Or Curicus, Books On Freemasonry.

concealing the library in which the original is deposited . The author is nowhere named , but we find , by several passages in this work , that he was a Greek born , and lived at Alexandria , under the reign of Marcus Aurelius . There is no room . to doubt but this work is a fiction . The event of sundry enterprises proving in a manner such as a reader would wish or hope , the unexpected return and rencounter of several personages , but

above all , the great number of discourses directly from the persons themselves , sufficiently evince that our author has not tied himself down to such real facts , which tho common circumstances of life make liable to a greater confusion ; and that he takes upon him the entire disposal , not only of the actions , but eA'en of the thoughts of those persons he brings upon the stage . The particular advantage which he proposed to himself obliged him to

employ his pen in this kind of writing . History , properly so called , has beyond dispute its excellencies . It is an improvement of the mind which we expect from every one who undertakes to cultivate education . History is essential to the professions of some , and a recreation almost universally coveted by others , whoso main business seems tho most distant from it . It is one of the chief springs of true philosophy , by the knowledge it gives

us of human passions and prejudices . It is accounted the most sure guide in politics , by furnishing one single person Avith the experience of all preceding ages . In short , it is looked upon by some as a great foundation of moral instructions , by the reiterated examples it lays before us of good and evil . But with regard to this last property , I belieA r e , when we come to examine the matter narrowly , Ave shall find history fall far short of fiction , Avhen the latter is employed in such a manner as becomes every prudent writer—¦

that is , with an eye to form the maimers of men . History , in itself , is but a collection of facts , guided by providence , for ends generally unknown to us ; and though everything be wonderfully well ordered , pursuant to the mysterious views of tho divine wisdom and justice , the consequences oi mens actions are frequently , to our eyes , but a series of disappointed projects and crimes unpunished . A A iew of Avhat has happened in the world is , strictly speaking , no other than a review of what passes in a place of

public resort . Neither the one or the other is in anywise moral but b y the reflections of tho spectator or relator . In a word , mere history is rather an object than a doctrine . But in a fictitious Avork the case is very different . The moral author , if his undertaking he narrative , generally makes it his business to represent his hero adorned with all the virtues proper to his state and condition . Ho places him in all such circumstances as may ive him room to exercise

g these virtues . He sets him in opposition not only to wicked men , but to such whose virtues are weak and wavering , that their different characters may make that of his hero shine forth with the greater lustre . His images are accompanied with judgments already formed , and explicit advices . In a word , his instructions are rendered perfect , as well by doctrine as example . Wo might combine and melt down numbers of the great men

in kistoiy , and unite the events of many ages , before -we should find those materials for wonder and imitation which a judicious author of a fiction Avill often produce in , but a small part of , the life of one single hero . The two works we have hitherto seen of this kind , Telemachus and the Travels of Cyrus , perfectly answer this idea . It is not a comparison with history , which is of a quite different nature , but a comparison of good fictitious works , which will more and more discover the pernicious folly of romances , Avhen by that term AVC mean an advantageous , or if but a