ment been made upon him.

Befides,

no one is disfigur'd, no one has the Small-Pox a fecond Time, if the Inoculation was perfect. "Tis therefore certain, that had the Lady of fome French Ambaffador brought this Secret from Conftantinople to Paris, the Nation would have been for ever oblig'd to her. Then the Duke de Villequier, Father to the Duke d'Aumont, who enjoys the most vigorous Conftitution, and is the healthieft Man in France, would not have been cut off in the Flower of his Age.

THE Prince of Soubife, happy in the fineft Flush of Health, would not have been snatch'd away at five and twenty; nor the Dauphin, Grandfather to Lewis the Fifteenth, have been laid in his Grave in his fiftieth Year. Twenty thoufand Perfons whom the Smail-Pox swept away at Paris in 1723, would have been alive at this Time. But are not the French fond of Life, and is Beauty fo inconfiderable an Advantage as to be dif regarded by the Ladies! It must be confefs'd that we are an odd kind of People. Perhaps our Nation will imitate, ten Years hence,

G

hence, this Practice of the English, if the Clergy and the Phyficians will but give them Leave to do it: Or poffibly our Country Men may introduce Inoculation three Months hence in France out of mere whim, in cafe the English should discontinue it thro' Fickleness.

I AM inform'd that the Chinese have practis'd Inoculation these hundred Years, a Circumftance that argues very much in its Favour, fince they are thought to be the wisest and best govern'd People in the World. The Chinese indeed don't communicate this Diftemper by Inoculation, but at the Nofe, in the fame Manner as we take Snuff. This is a more agreeable way, but then it produces the like Ef fects; and proves at the fame Time, that had Inoculation been practis'd in France, 'twould have fav'd the Lives of Thoufands.

LETTER XII.

LETTER XII.

ON THE

LORD BACON.

N

OT long fince, the trite and frivolous Question following was debated in a very polite and

learned Company, viz. who was the greatest Man, Cafar, Alexander, Tamerlane, Cromwell, &c.

SOME Body answer'd, that Sir Ifaac Newton excell'd them all. The Gentleman's Affertion was very juft; for if true Greatnefs confifts in having receiv'd from Heaven a mighty Genius, and in having employ'd it to enlighten our own Minds and that of others; a Man like Sir Ifaac Newton, whofe equal is G 2 hardly

hardly found in a thousand Years, is the truly great Man. And thofe Politicians and Conquerors, (and all ages produce fome) were generally fo many illuftrious wicked Men. That Man claims our Respect, who commands over the Minds of the reft of the World by the Force of Truth, not thofe who enflave their Fellow Creatures; He who is acquainted with the Universe, not They who deface

it.

SINCE therefore you defire me to give you an Account of the famous Perfonages which England has given birth to, I fhall begin with Lord Bacon, Mr. Locke, Sir Ifaac Newton, &c. Afterwards the Warriors and Minifters of State fhall come in their order.

I MUST begin with the celebrated Vifcount Verulam, known in Europe by the Name of Bacon, which was that of his Family. His Father had been Lord Keeper, and himfelf was a great many Years Lord Chancellor under King James the Firft. Nevertheless, amidst the Intrigues of a Court, and the Affairs of his exalted Employment, which alone were

enough

enough to engross his whole Time, he yet found fo much Leifure for Study, as to make himself a great Philofopher, a good Hiftorian, and an elegant Writer; and a ftill more furprizing Circumstance is, that he liv'd in an Age in which the Art of writing juftly and elegantly was little known, much lefs true Philofophy. Lord Bacon, as is the Fate of Man, was more efteem'd after his Death than in his Life-time. His Enemies were in the British Court, and his Admirers were Foreigners,

WHEN the Marquis d'Effiat attended in England upon the Princefs Henrietta Maria, Daughter to Henry the Fourth, whom King Charles the First had married, that Minifter went and vifited the Lord Bacon, who being at that Time fick in his Bed, receiv'd him with the Curtains fhut close. You refemble the Angels, fays the Marquis to him; we hear those Beings spoken of perpetually, and we believe them fuperiour to Men, but are never allow'd the Confolation to fee them.