protector of men of genius, whom he assisted not only with his
criticism, but his fortune. At his death, Saurin read in the French
Academy an epistle to the manes of his friend. Saurin, wrestling with
obscurity and poverty, had been drawn into literary existence by the
supporting hand of Helvetius. Our poet thus addresses him in the warm
tones of gratitude:

C'est toi qui me cherchant au sein de l'infortune,
Relevas mon sort abattu,
Et sus me rendre chère une vie importune.

* * * *

Qu'importent ces pleurs--
O douleur impuissante! ô regrets superflus!
Je vis, helas! Je vis, et mon ami n'est plus!

IMITATED.

In misery's haunts, thy friend thy bounties seize,
And give an urgent life some days of ease;
Ah! ye vain griefs, superfluous tears I chide!
I live, alas! I live--and thou hast died!

The literary friendship of a father with his son is one of the rarest
alliances in the republic of letters. It was gratifying to the feelings
of young Gibbon, in the fervour of literary ambition, to dedicate his
first-fruits to his father. The too lively son of Crebillon, though his
was a very different genius to the grandeur of his father's, yet
dedicated his works to him, and for a moment put aside his wit and