ship; and he relates several things on his own personal knowledge. That he is a positive and undoubted witness of Crichton's intellectual and literary exertions at Venice and Padua, Nevertheless, that even this author is to be read with some degree of caution; that dedications are apt to assume the style of exaggeration; and that, with regard to the present, such is the case. That the younger Aldus, besides that he might be carried too far by his affection for his friend, was not eminent for steadiness and consistency of character. That, independently of such considerations, the narrative, previously to Crichton's arrival at Venice, could not be derived from personal knowledge, and in that part he is very erroneous. That he does not appear to have been an eye-witness of the whole of the disputations held at Padua, as, in speaking of the oration in praise of Ignorance, he speaks from hearsay. That he was present at the disputation which lasted three days ; but, at the same time, allows, that Crichton's extraordinary abilities were not universally acknowledged and admired; that some there were who detracted from them, and were displeased with Manutius for so warmly supporting his reputation.
Little more than this can, indeed, be said with regard to Aldus, without approaching too near to a flat denial of his assertions. With no such intention, it is not a little instructive to see how he has written upon an occasion similar to the one under consideration. There is prefixed to his edition of Aratus a dedication to a certain Polish scholar of the name of Stanislaus Niegoseusky, part of which we shall present to the reader:—"I send to you," says he, "those verses of Aratus, which have been translated by Cicero—one part to another—but with this difference, that it is a poet of inferior, to one of superior genius. My book, 'De Universitate,' was dedicated to my friend, alas! my departed friend, Crichton. Now that I inscribe to you the verses of Aratus, say, shall I dedicate them to you, as his rival, or his panegyrist, or his superior; or shall I ascribe to you all these characters at once?"— "It is not enough to say that you write verses; you pour them forth with that unexampled animation and facility, which instantly declares that you were born a poet." This dedication was written very shortly after Crichton's decease, as it bears date, 4th November, 1583.
Aldus, we have observed, from Dr Kippis, is to be considered as the only living testimony regarding our subject Mr Tytler has discovered another, in the shape of an anonymous leaf, bearing the imprint of Venice, 1580. "This," says he, is a most curious and valuable document,"—"It exhibits a minute, but confused and ill-arranged catalogue of his [Crichton's] various accomplishments, both mental and physical; of the books he had studied, the feats he had performed, the intellectual battles, in which his prowess had been so remarkably conspicuous. The beauty of his person, the elegance of his manners, the nobility of his descent and his services in the French army, are all particularly insisted upon; and upon all these points the highest praise is given, the richest colouring employed." We cannot quote all that Mr Tytler says of this paper; but shall, at once, consider it authentic, and proceed.
We have, indeed, every willingness to consider this as a genuine document; and, with some little deduction on the score of Italian exaggeration, and some little correction of the idolatrousness of expression natural to that people, may, probably, with assistance of it, arrive at a truer notion of the real Crichton, than we have effected hitherto.
The confusion which pervades this production, in so far as it indicates absence of design, we prefer to the studied eulogium of Aldus; and, at the same time, it declares a fact well known to literary men, that the person so writing could not have very clearly understood what he was writing about. We have in it the
