Tierney[184] is a man of whom everybody believes something against, but I could never discover upon what fact such a belief was founded, as he has never committed any overt act. His birth is obscure, not to say mean. He married a woman who brought him a fortune, which his extreme parsimony will prevent him from squandering. He is shrewd and lively, and has apparently a very bad opinion of mankind.
A person who was sent about two years ago to explore the interior parts of Africa is just returned. He is a Scotchman of the name of M. Park,[185] very much protected by Sir Joseph Banks, and esteemed a man of veracity. He has neither fancy or genius, and if he does fib it is dully. He has traced the Niger to its source about a 1000 miles from the embouchure of the Senegal. He describes it as falling into a vast mediterranean lake, from whence it probably issues, but that he could not ascertain. He met with great difficulties, and was frequently in danger of losing his life. In a Negro district he was once imprisoned and condemned to death. The Queen saved his life by proposing to preserve him as a curiosity for his complexion, but at the expense of his sight. He escaped, however, that sacrifice. A Major Houghton, who preceded him in the expedition, went laden with beads and toys, hoping to engage the friendship of the inhabitants by his paltry gifts. He succeeded for some time, but falling in with an intrepid, rapacious people, to obtain all his riches they massacred him. This man lived with the Negroes everywhere, shunning the Moors, whom he represents as cruel and perfidious.
There is another adventurer wandering, whose history is remarkable, and if what he says is true his discoveries are curious. A student in the Temple of the name of Browne[186] allowed his imagination to be heated by the perusal of Quintus Curtius, and became convinced that he could discover the Temple of Jupiter Ammon. With all the ardour of youth and the enthusiasm of a proselyte, he quitted England, and arrived at Cairo without the smallest equipment for a laborious journey, or the least knowledge in the Oriental languages. He there engaged with a caravan, which was going across the deserts of Libya; after sixteen days’ journey from Alexandria they arrived at a fertile, verdant spot, insulated in the sands, conformable to the description given of the oasis on which the famous temple was erected.
MR. BROWNE
Mr. B. has since returned to England, and received great encouragement from the President. He is now learning Arabic and the languages that will facilitate his future enterprises. It is hoped that he will be de bonne foi, and really study the originals, and not do what poor Savary[187] was accused of, who instead of deriving his knowledge from the genuine sources, translated the history of a Caliphat from a bad Latin version. A musty savant discovered the imposition in an ingenious manner. In Savary’s history a certain town in Egypt is described as having its market filled weekly with oil. Now as no olives grow, and consequently no oil can be produced in such abundance as to furnish a regular supply in that district, recourse was had to other translations, and the identical one copied by Savary was found, and the error in the text that had led him into the mistake, for there olium was used for olus (oleris) cabbages! Thus fell the glorious boast of Savary’s learning.
I have lately been reading a very entertaining book, not the less so probably for being full of lies. It begins with a bouncer, viz., that Henry VIII. put Wolsey to death for his strict adherence to the Pope. The book is Leti’s Life of Sextus V., a pontiff whose history both as a sovereign and a man is worthy of being recorded, though the dignity of the first is degraded by cruelty, and the latter by hypocrisy.
The King yesterday subscribed towards the exigencies of the State and this ‘just and necessary war,’ 20,000l.! A scandalous and contemptible proceeding. He has a million annually, besides having Hanover, and most of his family provided for. The subscription goes on tardily, and there is not above 100,000l. raised, although it has been opened above ten days.
At length my wishes will be accomplished, and if life is granted to me for a few years, nay months, I shall witness the downfall of the detestable government of Rome! When this generation shall have passed from the face of the earth and no living witnesses remain, posterity will yield a reluctant belief to the testimony of history when it shall unfold the story of the Papal sway. That priests have governed without control the early history of every country shows, but then the ignorance of the governed was proportioned to the dominion of the governors; but that such a power should have lasted near four centuries after the destruction of Constantinople, when the lights of philosophy were diffused throughout Europe, appears incredible. The truth of the existence of the governments, Venice and Rome, will ever be problematical questions in future politics. Most will doubt, and for the advantage of mankind it is to be hoped none will ever try to revive experimentally their forms.
INTRIGUES IN ROME
This last commotion in Rome seems to have been a contrivance of the French, aided by the inveterate enemy to the See, Azara, for all (the Ambassador) Bonaparte’s steps in consequence appear to be the result of a premeditated scheme.[188] Tho’ I abhor the treachery, yet I cannot but applaud the effect, though it would be a prouder thing for ye human mind if the holy jugglers had received their destruction from the effort of reason, than by the common intrigue of an enemy. The King of Naples, unlike a faithful son of the Church, has marched a large army to seize a share of the tottering State, which the French will allow him to keep until it answers their purposes to take it from him.