himself, and exhibited before the court of Mantua, he is faid to have perfonated fifteen different cha'racters; in all which he might fucceed without great difficulty, fince he had fuch power of retention, that once hearing an oration of an hour, he would repeat it exactly, and in the recital follow the speaker through all his variety of tone and gef⚫ticulation.

Nor was his fkill in arms lefs than in learning, < or his courage inferior to his fkill: there was a prize-fighter in Mantua, who travelling about the world, according to the barbarous cuftom of that age, as a general challenger, had defeated the most celebrated mafters in many parts of Europe; and in Mantua, where he then refided, had killed three that appeared against him. The duke repented that he had granted him his protection; when Crichton, looking on his fanguinary fuccefs with indignation, offered to stake fifteen hundred pistoles, and mount the stage against him. The duke, with fome reluctance, confented, and, on the day fixed, the combatants appeared: their weapons feem to have been fingle rapier, which was then newly introduced in Italy. The prize-fighter advanced with great violence and fiercenefs, and Crichton con⚫tented himself calmly to ward his paffes, and fuffered him to exhauft his vigour by his own fury: Crichton then became the affailant; and preffed upon him with fuch force and agility, that he thruft him thrice through the body, and faw him expire: he then divided the prize he had won, among the widows whofe hufbands had been killed.

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The death of this wonderful man I fhould be willing to conceal, did I not know that every reader will enquire curioufly after that fatal hour, which is common to all human beings, however distinguished from each other by nature or by • fortune.

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The duke of Mantua having received fo many proofs of his various merit, made him tutor to his fon Vincentio di Gonzaga, a prince of loofe manners and turbulent difpofition. On this occafion it C was, that he compofed the comedy in which he exhibited fo many different characters with exact propriety. But his honour was of fhort continuance, for as he was one night in the time of Carnival rambling about the streets with his guitar in his hand, he was attacked by fix men mafked. Neither his courage nor skill, in this exigence deferted him he oppofed them with fuch activity and spirit, that he foon difperfed them, and difarmed their leader, who throwing off his mafk, difcovered himfelf to be the prince his pupil. Crichton falling on his knees, took his own fword by the point, and prefented it to the prince, who immediately feized • it, and instigated, as fome fay, by jealoufy, according to others, only by drunken fury and brutal refentment, thrust him through the heart.

Thus was the Admirable Crichton brought into that ftate, in which he could excel the meaneft ⚫ of mankind only by a few empty honours paid to his memory the court of Mantua teftified their efteem by a public mourning; the contemporary wits were profufe of their encomiums; and the • palaces

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palaces of Italy were adorned with pictures repre

fenting him on horseback, with a lance in one hand and a book in the other.'

The above account is fo defective in the evidences of historical verity, that it has been by fome fufpected to be fabulous. It is true, that in effays of fuch a kind as that which contains this eulogium, it is not ufual, for that would be to incur the charge of pedantry, to cite authorities; nevertheless, the circumftances of time and place feem fo néceffary in the relation of every uncommon event, and in the defcription of every extraordinary perfon, that the omiffion of both in this inftance, as alfo the chriftian name of the perfon celebrated, can hardly be excused,

To fupply thefe defects I might refer the reader to authorities, that fix the place of his birth at Clunie in the fhire of Perth in Scotland, the year thereof at 1551, and that of his death 1583; and that tell us alfo, that Crichton's name of baptifm was James; and as to the facts enumerated in the Adventurer, they seem to be fufficiently authenticated to all the purposes of historical information, in a book written in 1652, by Sir Thomas Urquhart *, bearing this strange

This fingular perfon, whofe name is fometimes written Urchard, was a physician of the house of Cromarty in Scotland, a man of learning, and the first tranflator into English of the works of Rabelais. In the time of the rebellion in Scotland, Temp. Car. I. he was a fierce opponent of the prefbyterian establishment, and taking, as we may fuppofe, an active part againft it, was made a prifoner of war, and though enlarged on his parole, endured many hardships. Befides the book above-mentioned, he wrote fundry tracts, which have lately been collected and published in one vo

lume

ftrange title,

EKEKYBAAAYPON, or the discovery of a most exquifite jewel more precious than diamonds inchafed in gold, the like whereof was never feen in any age; found in the kennel of Worcesterftreets, the day after the fight, and fix before the autumnal equinox 1651.'

In this book is contained a memorial of fundry illustrious perfons of Scotland, ferving to vindicate the honour of that nation, but written in such a ftyle of learned tumidity and bombast, as is not to be paralleled in any book now extant. I here cite from it two paffages refpecting Crichton as fpecimens thereof, and as proofs of Johnson's difcretion in veiling the effulgence of a character too bright to be viewed in its genuine lustre.

It happening on a Shrove-Tuesday at night, that this ever-renowned Crichtoun, (who, in the after

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lume octavo, one whereof is intitled, The true pedigree and lineal descent of the most ancient and honourable family of Urquhart in the house of Cromarty, from the creation of the ⚫ world till the year 1652,' in which we are not more astonished to meet with a long fucceffion of names, for the most part purely Greek, than to find fuch minute particulars recorded, as neither history nor tradition was ever before known to obtrude upon pofte rity.

For inftance, speaking of one of his ancestors named Eformun, who he fays lived A. M. 810, and married Narfefia; he tells this moft incredible tale: He was fovereign prince of Achaia. For

his fortune in the wars, and affability in converfation, his fubjects ⚫ and familiars furnamed him égonágros, that is, fortunate and wellbeloved. After which time, his pofterity ever fince hath acknowledged him the father of all that carry the name of UR QUHART. He had for his arms three banners, three fhips, and

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noon of that day, at the defire of my lord duke (the whole court ftriving which fhould exceed other in foolery, and devifing of the best sports to ' excite laughter; neither my lord, duchess, nor prince, being exempted from acting their parts, as well as they could) upon a theatre set up for the purpose, begun to prank it (à la Venetiana) with fuch a flou'rish of mimick, and ethopoetick geftures, that all the courtiers of both fexes, even those that a little before that, were fondeft of their own conceits, at the fight of his fo inimitable a garb, from ravishing actors, that they were before, turned then ravished fpectators. O! with how great liveliness did he reprefent the conditions of all manner of men! how naturally did he fet before the eyes of the beholders the rogueries of all profeffions, from the ' overweening monarch to the peevish Swaine, through all intermediate degrees of the fuperficial courtier or proud warrior, diffembled churchman, doting old

three ladies, in a field Or, with the picture of a young lady above the waist, holding in her right hand a brandifhed sword, and a branch of myrtle in her left for the creft; and for fupporters, two javanetes, after the foldier habit of Achaia, with this motto in the fcrole of his coat-armour, Taura ʼn rgía ağıάra :---that is, these three are worthy to behold. Upon his wife Narfefia, who was fovereign of the Amazons, he begot Cratynter.' Of Litoborus, another pretended ancestor of the Urquhart family, who lived A. M. 1930, he fays, he married two wives, Pafena and Emphaneola; and adds, yet had he, befides thefe two ladies, feveral others, both wives and concubines, as the fashion was over the whole world for the space of above a thousand years thereafter.' And of Phrenedon, another, who lived about fixty years after, he roundly afferts, that he was in the houfe of the patriarch • Abraham, at the time of the deftruction of Sodom and Go'morrah.'

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