To geography, books of travels may be added. In that kind, the collections made by our countrymen, Hackluyt and Purchas, are very good. There is alfo a very good collection made by Thevenot in folio, in French; and by Ramuzio, in Italian; whether tranflated into English or no, I know not. There are alfo feveral good books of travels of Englishmen published, as Sandys, Roe, Brown, Gage, and Dampier. There are alfo feveral voyages in French, which are very good, as Pyrard, Bergeron †, Sagard T, Bernier, &c. whether all of them are tranflated into English, I know not. There is at prefent a very good "collection of voyages and travels," never before in English, and fuch as are out of print; now printing by Mr. Churchill ¶. There are befides thefe a vaft number of other travels; a fort of books that have a very good mixture of delight and usefulness. To fet them down all, would take up too much time and room. Those I have mentioned are enough to begin with. As to chronology, I think Helvicus the beft for common ufe; which is not a book to be read, but to lie by, and be confulted upon occafion. He that hath a mind to look farther into chronology, may get Tallent's "Tables," and Strauchius's "Breviarium Temporum," and may to those add Scaliger " De Emendatione Temporum," and Petavius, if he hath a mind to engage deeper in that study. Thofe, who are accounted to have writ beft particular parts of our English hiftory, are Bacon, of Henry Voyage de Francois Pyrard de Laval. Contenant fa navigation aux Indes Orientales, Maldives, Moluques, Brefil." Paris 1619, 8vo, 3d edit. +"Relation des voyages en Tartarie, &c. Le tout recueilli par Pierre Bergeron. Paris 1634, 8vo." "Le grand voyage des Hurons, fitués en l'Amerique, &c. Par F. Gab. Sagard Theodat." Paris 1632, 8vo. A "Memoires de l'empire du Grand Mogol, &c. par Francois Bernier. Paris 1670 & 1671, 3 vol. in 12mo. I That collection of voyages and travels was published an. 1704, in 4 vol. in fol. VII; and Herbert of Henry VIII. Daniel also is commended; and Burner's" Hiftory of the Reformation." Mariana's "Hiftory of Spain," and Thuanus's "Hiftory of his own Time," and Philip de Comines; are of great and deferved reputation. There are alfo feveral French and English memoirs and collections, fuch as la Rochefoucault, Melvil, Rushworth, &c. which give a great light to thofe who have a mind to look into what hath paft in Europe this laft age. To fit a gentleman for the conduct of himself, whether as a private man, or as interested in the govern ment of his country, nothing can be more neceffary than the knowledge of men; which, though it be to be had chiefly from experience, and, next to that, from a judicious reading of hiftory; yet there are books that of purpose treat of human nature, which help to give an infight into it. Such are thofe treating of the paffions, and how they are moved; whereof Ariftotle in his fecond book of Rhetoric hath admirably difcourfed, and that in a little compafs. I think this Rhetoric is tranflated into English; if not, it may be had in Greek and Latin together. La Bruyere's "Characters" are alfo an admirable piece of painting; I think it is also tranflated out of French into English. Satyrical writings alfo, fuch as Juvenal, and Perfius, and above all Horace; though they paint the deformities of men, yet they thereby teach us to know them. There is another ufe of reading, which is for diver fion and delight. Such are poetical writings, especially dramatic, if they be free from prophanenefs, obfcenity, and what corrupts good manners; for fuch pitch should not be handled. Of all the books of fiction, I know none that equals "Cervantes's Hiftory of Don Quixote" in usefulness, pleasantry, and a conftant decorum. And indeed no writings can be pleasant, which have not nature at the bottom, and are not drawn after her copy. There is another fort of books, which I had almost forgot, with which a gentleman's study ought to be well fur furnifhed, viz. dictonaries of all kinds. For the Latin` tongue, Littleton, Cooper, Calepin, and Robert Stephens's "Thefaurus Linguæ Latina," and "Voffii "Etymologicum Linguæ Latinæ." Skinner's "Lexi con Etymologicum," is an excellent one of that kind, for the English tongue. Cowel's "Interpreter” is useful for the law terms. Spelman's "Gloffary" is a very ufeful and learned book. And Selden's "Titles of "Honour," a gentleman should not be without. Baudrand hath a very good "Geographical Dictionary." And there are feveral hiftorical ones, which are of ufe; as Lloyd's, Hoffman's, Moreri's. And Bayle's incomparable dictionary, is fomething of the fame kind. He that hath occafion to look into books written in Latin fince the decay of the Roman empire, and the purity of the Latin tongue, cannot be well without Du Cange's "Gloffarium mediæ & infimæ Latinitatis." Among the books above fet down, I mentioned Voffius's "Etymologicum Linguæ Latina;" all his works are lately printed in Holland in fix tomes. They are fit books for a gentleman's library, containing very learned difcourfes concerning all the fciences. ELE |