On the Rich Quilt ſinks with becoming Woe,
Wrapt in a Gown, for Sickneſs and for Show.
This Extract in the Original, (not in the faint Tranſlation I have given you of it, may be compar'd to the Deſcription of La Moleſſe (Softneſs or Effeminacy) in Boileau's Lutrin.
Methinks I now have given you Specimens enough from the Engliſh Poets. I have made ſome tranſient mention of their Philoſophers, but as for good Hiſtorians among them, I don't know of any; and indeed a French Man was forc'd to write their Hiſtory. Poſſibly the Engliſh Genius, which is either languid or impetuous, has not yet requir'd that unaffected Eloquence, that plain but majeſtic Air which Hiſtory requires. Poſſibly too, the Spirit of Party which exhibits Objects in a dim and confus'd Light, may have ſunk the Credit of their Hiſtorians. One half of the Nation is al-
