character, and told him, that he had received a letter from a correspondent of their's at Amfterdam, whose name he mentioned, which informed him that a person of the name of Trevors, who frequented the 'Change, had defrauded the Dutch merchant out of one thousand pounds, and that the latter requested Mr. E.'s assistance in the recovery of the whole, or any part of it he could get. Having thus opened the business, he then produced the letter to Mr. E. who having read it, did not entertain the least suspicion but it was the hand-writing of his Amsterdam correspondent: he therefore offered his assistance most readily, in any plan that might be pursued to favour his Dutch friend. After thus paving the way, he began to advise Mr. E. how to manage the matter. "To-morrow," said Price, Trevors will most likely be upon "'Change; he always frequents the Dutch "walk, and is dressed in a red surtout, with a "white wig; he has also square-toed shoes, "and very small buckles. Your best way will "be to accost him, get into a conversation with

him, introduce the mercantile affairs of Am"sterdam, and, by pretending that he can be " of service to you, invite him home to dinner. "You may then mention the business, shew "him the letter, and inform him, that unless he "refunds the whole, or part of the money, im

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r

mediately, you will expose the matter to the "merchants. By such a step, you may, probably, , procure a return of the greater part of "the property, as he is rich, and has always "cash or notes about him, and will rather pay

"than

"than be exposed." Mr. E. highly approved of this plan, and was very much pleased with an opportunity of doing, as he thought, such an essential service to his Dutch friend. The next day appeared our hero on the Dutch walk, and in the dress he had so minutely described the day before. Mr. E. followed the advice he had received; the result of which was, an invitation to dinner, and an acceptance on the part of our great man. When the cloth was removed, and the family retired from table, Mr. E: begged to open to Mr. Trevors, in as delicate a manner as he could, the purpose of the invitation. Our hero acknowledged the charge in part, affected great remorse, declared his intention was to pay, begged he might not be exposed on 'Change, and offered to pay five hundred pounds down, if Mr. E. would bury the matter in oblivion.— This being readily promised on Mr. E.'s part, Mr. Trevor's then produced a thousand pound note, which he said he would give to Mr. E. if the latter would return to him the other moiety. Not having sufficient cash and notes in the house, Mr. E. gave him a draft for five hundred pounds on his banker, soon after which our hero took his leave. The next morning Mr. E. discovered that the thousand pound note he had received was a forged one, and ran to the bankers to stop the payment of his draft; but unfortunately too late; for a porter, who seemed to have been followed by a tall thin woman into the bankinghouse, had obtained notes for the draft four hours before Mr. E.'s application to stop payment. The depredations of this monster on society

society, amounted in the whole to upwards of one hundred thousand pounds; and yet, before he hung himself in Tothill Fields prison, he wrote a letter to a gentleman whom he had de frauded of more than two thousand pounds, recommending his wife and eight children to his protection. Price's disbursements must either have been great, or the prudence of his female coadjutor excessive; for at her lodgings were fixed all the apparatus for manufacturing the paper, and printing bank notes; the plates for which were also engraved by this ingenious villain. Being thus paper-maker, engraver, printer, and circulator, we need not be surprised that he contrived to spin out existence to the age of fifty-five; six years of which were passed in hostilities against the Bank Directors, whose emoluments by fire, shipwreck, and other accidents, Mr. Price conceived were much too enor

mous.

PSALMANEZOR, (GEORGE) the assumed name of a very extraordinary man, whose country it was difficult to discover, though he is deemed a Frenchman. He took upon himself the occupa tion of a common beggar, by which he subsisted in his passage through several countries. He was habited in a pilgrim's garb, which he had stolen out of a church. In Germany he passed for a Japanese, converted to Christianity. At Liege, he entered into the Dutch service, and afterwards into the army of the elector of Cologne. The better to support his imposture, he fed upon raw flesh, roots, and herbs. When he arrived in the metropolis of England, he was in

troduced

troduced to Compton, bishop of London; and, before he had been three months in that city, was caressed by the nobility and gentry as a prodigy. Here he passed for a Formosan, and wrote a fabulous history of the island of Formosa, translated the church catechism into his pretended language; and, by the strength of a fertile imagination, formed a new character, grammer, and language. It was examined by the learned, and found regular and grammatical; and the bishop of London put him to Oxford to pursue his studies. At last, however, his patrons forsook him, on account of some discoveries they had made respecting the history of Formosa; and he had recourse to his pen in a more honourable way. He was concerned in writing and compiling several works of repute, particularly "The Universal History." He died in 1763. In his will, which breathes great penitence, he confesses all his frauds and impositions. PYTHAGORAS, a celebrated philosopher of Samos, was born about 590 years before Christ. If we measure the glory of a philosopher by the duration of his doctrine, and by the extent of its propagation, nothing can equal that of Pythagoras, since at this day most of his opinions are literally followed by the enlightened part of mankind. After having passed twenty-five years in Egypt, he went to Sparta to make himself acquainted with the laws of Minos and Lycurgus. -Pythagoras was the first who renounced the pompous title of sage, or wise man, for the modest appellation of a philosopher; that is, a lover of wisdom. By his precepts, he discountenanced

the

the effeminate manners of the Cretonians, and opened a school in their city for reducing to practice the wisdom he professed. Numbers flocked to him, but he was scrupulous in the choice of those whom he admitted. He first en◄ joined his pupils a five years' silence, during which period they were only to hear; but they were afterwards permitted to propose questions, and state their doubts. Having passed this probation, they were obliged, prior to their admittance, to bring their whole fortune into the common stock, which was managed by persons chosen for that purpose, called œconomists; and when any one retired from the city, it frequently happened that he took more away with him than he brought into it. Unfortunately, the works of this great man are lost, yet the vastness of his mind, and the extent of his talents, appear from the wonderful things he atchieved, in delivering so many cities from slavery, their inhabitants from sedition, and appeasing the savage cruelty of tyrants. Phalaris, of Sicily, it is said, was the only one who could withstand the remonstrances of Pythagoras; and he was so enraged at his presumption, that he ordered him to be put to death. On this account, the spirit of the Agrigentines was roused, and Phalaris was killed the very same day he had fixed on for the death of Pythagoras. This philosopher inculcated marriage, and prohibited the eating of animal food. He advanced the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and considered numbers as the principles of every thing. It is evident, however, that Socrates and Plato conformed to most of his prin ciples