he had almost the Air of a Savage, and even affected it; together with a cynical, or contemptuous Smile [n], which scarce rendered his Look the more agreeable. Salvini himself, just after he has been speaking of his Person, cannot help thinking of the [] Satyrs that Socrates was compared to of old. In his Manner of living, he affected the Character of Diogenes; three hard Eggs, and a Draught,or two of Water, was his ufual Repast. When any went to see him, they most ufually found him lolling in a fort of fixed wooden Cradle, in the Middle of the Study, with a Multitude of Books, fome [p] thrown in Heaps, and other scattered about the Floor, all round him; and this his Cradle, or Bed, was attached to the nearest Piles of Books by a Number of Cobwebs: At their Entrance, he commonly used to call out to them; "Not to hurt his "Spiders!" From this fingle Anecdote we may conclude, that where a great Friend of his commends him for his "gentilleza [q];" it must be understood, of his Obligingness in answering any Questions that were put to him in literary Affairs; not of the Genteelness of his Perfon and Behaviour in general. [n] Or. Fun. p. 13. [o] Ibid. p. 18. [P] He used fometimes to loll and fleep upon Piles of them : << Cui litto erano i libri," fays Salvini, «e fopra effi, (chi 'I "crederà) riposava." Or. Fun. p. 27. [9]" Appreffo l'incomparabile, e per fapera e per gentillezza, "Antonio Magliabesbi.” Crefc. T. iii. p. 207. Magliabechi Magliabechi was early made a Member of the ARCADI; a Society established at Rome, toward the End of the last Century, for the Revival of true Tafte, in Poetry, Eloquence, and the polite Arts. Most of the eminent People all over Italy, and many of other Countries, are enrolled in it; and though of so much later Date than many of the other Academies in Italy, there is fcarce any one of them, perhaps, that can boaft the Names of fo many Kings and Princes, or Popes and Cardinals, as appear in their Lift. Their Affemblies and Games have [r] for many Years been kept in a Theatre built on purpose for them in the Gardens, now belonging to the King of Naples, on the Palatine-bill in Rome. It is here too that they have used, almost ever fince their Inftitution, to fet up memorial Infcriptions to fome of the most worthy of their Members. There is one to Magliabechi, in the fourth Year of the fixth hundred and twenty-fifth Olympiad, for they have revived that ancient way of Reckoning, in which he is ftiled; "Their "Counsellor, or Oracle, in all Sorts of Learning [s]. Crecembeni, the great Promoter and Soul of this Society for fo many Years, and [t] Prefident of it [u] from its firft Eftablishment, to the End of his own Life, has given the World a fuller Account of [r] Ever fince the Year 1726. [s] OMNIGENAE ERUDITIONIS CONSULTO. [] Cuftode. [u] From 1690, to 1728. thefe thefe Arcadians, than is any where else to be met with, in his History of Italian Poetry. He was a particular [x] Friend of Magliabechi; with whom he got acquainted, when he was obliged to go into Tuscany for his Health. He speaks of him frequently in his History juft mentioned, and never without fome Encomium. It is fufficient, I think, to fay here, that among fo many, and fo various Commendations, the lowest Title which he ever gives him, is that of " the Eminent Magliabechi [y].” Moreri [x] fays, "that he was famous all over Europe, for his great Knowledge in Books, and "in literary Hiftory:" And Lavocat [z], "That "he was confulted by all the Learned in Europe; “and highly commended by them all.” And the above-cited Crecembeni confirms what is faid by both of them; and adds [a] That as he cannot find out any Commendation proportioned to his immenfe • Erudition, after so many that have been bestowed upon him by the most learned Perfons of his Times, he should choose to repeat that of one of the most eminent among them, Cardinal Noris, 6 [x] Crecembeni was at Florence in 1699, where he got acquainted with Buonarroti, Salvini, Accolti, and Averani; "Uomini tutti," says my Author," e per chiara fama, e per eccellenza di dottrina, "molto illuftri; e fopra ogni altro, da Antonio Magliabechi." Man curti. [y[“ Dall infigne Antonio Magliabechi." T. iii. p. 44. The other generally runs thus: "Eruditiffimo." T. i. p. 201. " Ill "digniffimo," T. vi. 105.—“ ill celebratiffimo.” T. ii. p. 410.-"l'incomparabile." T. iv. p. 26. [z] See his Article in their Dictionaries. • who who in one of his Works calls him [b],' "The "moft learned Man, and the most applauded in "all Nations of the World, which are not inha"bited by Barbarians." Salvini made his funeral Oration, in the Florentine Academy; by which Magliabechi had been chofen for their Secretary annually, for several Years [c] before his Death: And even in the Midst of that Affembly of fo many learned and eminent Men, calls him [d], "The principal "Ornament of his Country." The whole Speech confifts of Compliments to his Merits, or Excuses for what might feem amifs in him; and in the Course of it, he gives him the Titles of "The "great Magliabechi! [e]"--"The univerfal Library [f];"--" A Prodigy of Learning! "[g]"--and fome others, which may perhaps found better it Italian, then they would in English. 66 Thus lived and thus died Magliabechi, in the midft of the public Applause; and with such an Affluence, for all the latter Part of his Life, as very few Perfons have ever procured by their Knowledge or Learning. [b]" Eruditiffimum, et ubique non barbararum gentium laudatif"fimum virum." ROBERT HILL, Son of Robert and Phabe Hill, was born January 11, 1699, at Mifwell, a little Village of only three or four Houses, near Tring in Hertfordshire. His Mother's maiden Name was Clark; fhe loft her Husband within the Year; returned to her own Family at Mifwell; and, about five Years after, was married to Thomas Robinson, a Taylor of Buckingham. On her going thither, the left our Robert, the only Son of her firft Marriage, with his Grand-mother at Mifwell; who taught him to read, and fent him to School for seven or eight Weeks to learn to write; which was all the Schooling he ever had. In the Year 1710, the removed with her Family from Miswell to Tring-Grove; where little Robert was employed in driving the Plough, and other Country Bufinefs, for his Uncle. But they finding this rather too much |