to ftudies impaired his health, notwithstanding which he attained to his 79th year he expired September 6th, 1748, after an epifcopate of near 33 years. 1 Of the Right Reverend Dr. HoUGH, THIS HIS refpectable prelate was born in 1655. I fhall pafs over the former more private part of his life, and willingly haften to that period, that critical juncture, in the reign of James the Second, when at the head of a fociety (St. Mary Magdalen-college, at Oxford) he made that noble ftand in. defence of the reformation-of civil and religious liberty. In this laudable effort, it is difficult to decide whether his perfonal abilities, or patriotic virtues, fhone moft confpicuous. His public benefactions were very extenfive. He gave the fum of one thousand pounds to Magdalen-college, the place of his education, as well as fcene of his government for feveral years. He embraced every opportunity to patronize genius, encourage learn ing, and promote the interefts of uleful knowledge. When his lordship was tranflated from Oxford to the fee of Litchfield and Coventry, he almoft rebuilt the palace of Ecclefhall. On the demife of bishop Lloyd, he was tranflated to Worcester. On his acceffion to this fee, he gave a fignal proof of his undoubted generofity, in rebuilding great part of the epifcopal palace, and expended on that (and his feat at Hartlebury) at least 70001. His private benefactions were equal to his public; he was liberal, without profufion; and diftinguished for candour, and humanity. His amiable virtues procured him the - affection and veneration of the clergy, and the refpect and honour of the laity in general. It may not be improper to obferve, that Dr. Hough particularly excelled in epiftolary writing-a branch of literature that requires peculiar talents, and, in which art fhould never want eafe, nor elegance lofe fight of nature. The folid ornaments of his moral excellences claim our greatest regard. His piety was unaffected, and his virtues exemplary. The principles of religion had made a deep impreffion on his mind, fhone forth in his conduct with the most refulgent luftre, and animated his writings. A diffidence of our own abilities, and a defire to avoid thofe honours, which ambition greedily runs after, is a certain criterion, whereby to diftinguish true merit, and real magnanimity. An inftance of this appeared in Dr. Hough, who actually declined to accept an offer made him of the higheft ecclefiaftical dignity (vacant by the demife of Dr. Tennifon); the bithop of Worcester was contented with the exalted station he did enjoy, and afpired no higher. He died (fatisfied with a long life, equally full of days and honour) May 8, 1743, aged 92. During an epifcopacy of 53 years he difplayed an amiable pattern of thofe virtues, which are the ornaments of the religion he explained, and the faith he profeffed. The The Life of Mr. LANGUET, the famous Vicar of St. Sulpice, in Paris. JOHN Baptift Jofeph Languet, doctor of the Sorbonne, the celebrated vicar of St. Sulpice, at Paris, and one of thofe extraordinary men whom Providence raises up for the relief of the indigent and wretched, for the good of fociety, and the glory of nations, was born at Dijon, on the 6th day of June, 1675. His father was Denis Languet, procurator-general of that city. After having made fome progrefs in his ftudies at Dijon, he continued them at Paris, and refided in the feminary of St. Sulpice. He was received into the Sorbonne the 31ft day of December, 1698, and took his degree with applaufe. He was ordained priest at Vienne, in Dauphiny, after which he returned to Paris, and took the degree of doctor, the 15th day of January, 1703. He attached himfelf from that time to the community of St. Sulpice, and was of great fervice in the parish. Monf. de la Chetardie, who was vicar there, confcious of his talents, chofe him for his curate. M. Languet continued in that office near ten years, and fold his patrimony to relieve the poor. During this period, M. de St. Vallier, bifhop of Quebec, being prifoner in England, requefted of the king, that M. Languet might be his affiftant in North America. M. Languet was about to accept of the place, prompted to it by his zeal for the converfion of infidels, but his patrons and friends advised him to decline the voyage, as his conflitution was by no means ftrong. He fucceded Monf. de Chetardie, vicar of St. Sulpice, in the month of June, 1714. His parish church being much out of repair, and, like that of a poor village, fcarce fit to hold 1200, or 1500 perfons, whereas the parish contained 125,000 inhabitants, he conceived a defign to build a church capable of containing fuch a great number of people, and worthy of the majesty of that God whom we adore; and fome days afterwards undertook this great work, putting his truft in God, and having no greater fund to begin with than the fum of one hundred crowns, which 1:ad been left him, for this defign, by a pious and benevolent lady. He laid out this money in ftones, which he caufed to be carried through all the ftreets, to fhew his defign to the public. He foon obtained confiderable donations from all parts, and the duke of Orleans, regent of the kingdom, granted him a lottery. That prince likewife laid the firft ftone of the porch, in the year 1718, and M. Languet fpared neither labour nor expence, during his life, to make the church one of the finest in the world, both for architecture and ornaments. It was confecrated in the year 1745, with fo much fplendour, that his present majefty of Pruffia wrote the vicar a letter, which we here tranfcribe: " "that which I am perfuaded diftinguishes you much more, is "the piety, beneficence, and zeal, " which you have difplayed throughout the whole undertaking; qualities, which, however neceffary in a man of your function, do not on that account the "less merit the esteem and attention of all mankind; it is to thefe, Sir, that you owe the teftimony which I am defirous to give you of my regard. I pray -"God to have you in his holy pro❝tection, Potsdam, October 4, 1748. FREDERICK." Another work, which does not lefs honour to Monf. Languet, is the houfe de l'Enfant Jefus. The establishment of this houfe, fo advantageous to the community, will beft evince the piety and the talents of our celebrated divine. It confifts of two parts. The firft is compofed of about 35 poor ladies, defcended from families illuftrious from the year 1535 to the present time. The fecond of more than four hundred poor women and children of town and country. Thofe young ladies whofe anceftors have been in the king's fervice are preferred to all others. An education is given to them, fuited to the dignity of their birth. They are employed, by turns, in infpecting the bake-house, the poultryyards, the dairies, the laundries, the gardens, the laboratory, the linen - warehouses, the fpinningrooms, and other places belonging to the house. By thefe means they become good houfe-wives, and able to relieve their poor relations in the country. Services, thefe, far more important than if they paffed their time in finging and embroidery. Befides, the neceffity they are under to fuccour, by a thousand little kind offices, the poor women and girls who work there, renders them more condefcending, kind, and humble, more ferviceable to fociety, than if they had only converfed with perfons of rank and diftinction. Accordingly, we fee here none of thofe airs of pre-eminence and difdain, which are met with in other places. When they leave the house, they carry with them, to their relations, linen, clothes, and money. If they chufe to enter a convent, and live a religious life, a fufficient fum is allotted to them for that purpose. M. Languet ufed befides to grant great fums of money to fuch ladies, as were examples of economy, virtue, and piety, in those religious houses. which he had the goodness to fuperintend. The poor women and children, who form the second part, are provided with food every day, and work at the fpinning-wheel. They make a great quantity of linen and cotton. Different rooms are affigned to them. They are under different claffes. In each room are two ladies of the fociety of St. Thomas, of Ville-Neuve, of which M. Languet was fuperior-general. Thefe ladies are placed there to overfee the work, and to give fuch inftructions as they think proper. They never leave the room, until others come in their places. The women and the girls who find employment in this houfe, have, in a former period of their lives, been licentious and diffolute, and are generally reformed, by the examples of virtue before their eyes, and by the falutary advice given to them. They They have the amount of their works paid them in money when they leave the house. They be come induftrious and exemplary, and, by this establishment, are reftored to the community and to religion. There were in the houfe de l'Enfant Jefus, in 1741, more more than 1400 women and girls of this fort, and the vicar of St. Sulpice employed all the means in his power to make their fituation agrecable. Although the land belonging to the house measured only 17 arpens*, it has a large diary, which has given milk to more than 2000 children belonging to the parish, a managery, poultry, of all forts, a bakehoufe, from whence more than one hundred thousand pounds of bread have been diftributed every month to the poor of the parish, fpinningrooms, a very neat and well-cultivated garden, and a magnificent laboratory, where all forts of medicines are made. The order and economy obferved in this houfe, in the education, instruction, and employment, of fo many people, were fo admirable, and gave fo great an idea of the vicar of St. Sulpice, that cardinal Fleury proposed to make him fuperintendant-general of all the hofpitals in the kingdom: but M. Languet ufed to anfwer him, with a fmile, I have always faid, my lord, that it was the bounty of your highness led me to the hospital. The expence of this establishment was immenfe. He fpent his revenue on it, an inheritance which came to him by the death of the baron of Montigni his brother, and the estate of the abbé de Bernay, granted him by the king. M. Languet was not less to be efteemed for his beneficence and his zeal in aiding the poor of every fort. Never man took more pains than he did, in procuring feveral donations and legacies, which he diftributed with admirable prudence and difcretion. He enquired, with care, if the legacies which were left him, were to the difadvantage of the poor relations of the teftator; if he found that to be the cafe, he reftored to them, not only the legacy, but, gave them, when wanting, a large fum of his own. Madame de Cavois, as illuftrious for the benevolence of her difpofition as for her rank in life, having left him, by her laft will, a legacy of more than 600,000 livres; he took only 30,000 livres for the poor, and returned the remaining fum to her relations. It is faid,. from very good authority, that he difburfed near a million of livres in charities every year. He always chose noble families, reduced to poverty, before all others: and we have heard, from perfons who knew him well, that there were fome families of diftinction in his parifh, to each of whom he has diftributed 30,000 livres per annum. Always willing to ferve mankind, he gave liberally, and often before any application was made to him. When there was a general dearth in the year 1725, he fold, in order to relieve the poor, his household goods, his pictures, and fome fcarce and curious pieces of furniture, which he had procured with difficulty. From that time, he had only three pieces of plate, no tapestry, and but a mean ferge bed, which Madame de Cavois had lent him, An arpen is a French measure, of 100 perches fquare, every perch 18 fect. one. him, having fold before, for the poor, all the prefents she had made him at different periods. His charity was not confined to his own parish. At the time that the plague raged at Marseilles, he fent large fums into Provence to aflift those perfons who were afflicted with that difeafe. He interested himself with great zeal in the promotion of arts and commerce, and in whatever concerned the glory of the nation. In times of public calamity, as conflagrations, &c. his prudence and affiduity have been much admired. He understood well the different difpofitions of men. He knew how to employ every one according to his talent or capacity. In the most intricate and perplexed affairs he decided with a fagacity and judgement that furprized every Monf. Languet refufed the bishoprick of Couferans, and that of Poitiers, and feveral others which were offered him by Louis XIV. and Louis XV. under the miniftry of the duke of Orleans and cardinal Fleury. He refigned his vicarage to Monf. l'abbé du Lau, in 1748, but continued to preach every Sunday, according to his cuftom, in his own parish church, and continued alfo to fupport the houfe de l'Enfant Jefus, till his death, which happened on the 11th day of October, 1750, in the 75th year of his age, at the abbey de Bernay, to which place he went to make fome charitable establishments. His piety and continued application to works of beneficence, did not hinder him from being lively and chearful. He had a fine genius, which fhewed itself by the agreeable repartees, and fenfible remarks he made in converfation. VOL. VI. Some account of the Life of TOR QUATO TASSo, prefixed to a new tranflation of the Jerufalem Delivered, by Mr. Hoole, and taken from that, which was written by Giovanni Battista Manfo, a Neapolitan, lord of Bifaccio and Pianea; an intimate friend of Tallo's, and witness to many of the particulars hé relatės. Orquato Taffo was defcended from the noble family of the Torregiani, lords of Bergamo and Milan, which, being expelled by the Viscenti, settled in the most advantageous parts of the mountain Taffo, from which the family, from this time, took its name. He was the fon of Bernardo Taffo, the author of feveral ingenious compofitions both in verfe and profe, and of Portia de Roffi, a lady of an illuftrious family of Naples. He was born at Sorento on the 11th of March, 1544. The fondnefs of the Italians for their most admired author, has caufed them to relate many extravagant fictions concerning him. They pretend, that at fix months old he not only spoke clearly and dictinctly, and expreffed his wants, but that he answered queftions, thought, and reafoned. His father being obliged to accompany the prince of Salerno to the emperor Charles the Vth, upon deputation from Naples, to remonftrate against erecting the inquifition there, committed the care of his fon, then three years old, to Angeluzza, a man of great learning, who, we are told, at this tender age, began to teach him grammar: at four he was fent to the Jefuits college, and at seven was well acquainted with Latin and Greek. C At |