to have flowed, from his having given Eloisa the name of ROSE, in one of the many fonnetts he addrest to her. In this * romance, there are many fevere and fatirical strokes on the character of Eloifa, which the pen of In one † Abelard never would have given. paffage, fhe is introduced speaking with indecency and obfcenity; in another, all the vices and bad qualities of women are reprefented, as affembled together in her alone, Qui les mœurs feminins favoit, Car tres-tous en foi les avoit. In a very old epistle dedicatory, addreffed to * Which was certainly written an hundred years after Abelard flourished. Eloifa fpeaks thus of Abelard's poetry and skill also in mufic; for he fung his own verses. "Duo autem fateor, tibi fpecialiter inerant, quibus fœminarum quarumlibet animos ftatim allicere poteras; dictandi videlicet & cantandi gratia. Quæ cæteros minimè philofophos affecutos effe novimus. Quibus quidem quafi ludo quodam laborem exercitii recreans philofophici, pleraque amatorio metro vel rithmo compofita reliquisti carmina, quæ præ nimiâ fuavitate tam dictaminis, quam cantus, fæpius frequentata, tuum in ore omnium nomen inceffanter tenebant; ut etiam illiteratos melodiæ dulcedo tui non fineret effe immemores. Epift. 1. Heloiffe. p. 51. Edit. 1718. It is obfervable, that POPE judicioufly foftened and harmonized her name to Eloifa from Heloiffa. Philip the fourth of France, by this fame John of Meun, and prefixed to a French tranflation of Boetius, a very popular book at that time, it appears, that he also tranflated the epiftles of Abelard to Heloifa, which were in high vogue at the court. He mentions also that he had tranflated Vegetius, on the Art Military, and a book called the Wonders of Ireland; thefe works fhew us the tafte of the age: his words are ; "ť'envoye ores * Boece de confolation, que j'ai translaté en Francois, jacoit que bien entendes le Latin". It is to be regretted, that we have no exact picture of the perfon and beauty of Eloifa; Abelard himself fays, that she was, "facie non infima ;" her extraordinary learning many circumstances concur to confirm ; particularly one, which is, that the nuns of the Paraclete are wont to have the office of Whitfunday read to them in Greek, to per Chaucer alfo tranflated this piece.-Boetius was a most admired claffic of that age; indeed he deserves to be so of any. This fentence ftrongly also characterises the times. petuate petuate the memory of her understanding that language. The curious may not be displeased to be informed, that the Paraclete was built in the parish of Quincey, upon the little river Arduzon, near to Nogent, upon the Seine. Happening to be in France a few years ago, I had the curiofity to visit the very spot; which I furveyed with much veneration. A lady, learned as was Eloifa in that age, who indisputably understood the latin, greek, and hebrew tongues, was a kind of prodigy: her literature, fays* Abelard, " in toto regno nominatiffimam fecerat:" and, we may be fure, more thoroughly attached him to her. Buffy Rabutin speaks in high terms of commendation, of the purity of Eloifa's latinity: a judgment worthy a French count! There is a force, but not an elegance in her style; which is blemished, as might be expected, by many phrases unknown to the pure ages of the Roman language, and by many Hebraifms, borrowed from the tranflation of the bible. * Abel. Opera p. 10. I now propose to pass through the * EPISTLE, in order to give the reader a view of the various turns and tumults of paffion, and the different fentiments with which Eloifa is agitated: and at the fame time, to point out what paffages are borrowed, and how much improved, from the original Letters. From this analyfis, her ftruggles and conflicts, between duty and pleasure, between penitence and paffion, will more amply and ftrikingly appear. The compliment which Prior paid our author on this EPISTLE, is at once full of elegance and very lively imagery. He addreffes it to Abelard, and fays that, POPE has wove SHE begins with declaring, how the peacefulness of her fituation has been disturbed, by a letter of her lover accidentally falling into her hands; this exordium is beautiful, being worked up with an awakening folemnity he looks about her, and breaks out at once. § In these deep folitudes and awful cells, * What means this tumult in a vestal's veins ? Why feels my heart it's long-forgotten heat? She then refolves neither to mention or to write the name of Abelard; but fuddenly adds, in a dramatic manner, * If I was ordered to find out the most happy, and the moft miferable man in the World, I would look for them in a cloifter;" faid a man of penetration. + V. 13. Quanto rectius HOC, quàm trifti lædere versû, Hor. Sat. L. I. S. 10. 20. She |