on ral: they were fitted out, to cruize upon the Spaniards and having touched at the isle of Bayonne and plundered Vigo, put to sea again, and the 16th of November arrived before St. Jago, which they entered without resistance, and rested there fourteen days, visiting in the mean time San Domingo, a town within the land, which they found likewise deserted; and, carrying off what they pleased of the produce of the island, they at their departure destroyed the town and villages, in revenge of the murder of one of their boys, whose body they found mangled in a most inhuman manner. From this island they pursued their voyage to the West-Indies, determining to attack St. Domingo, in Hispaniola, as the richest place in that part of the world: they therefore landed a thousand men, and with small loss entered the town, of which they kept possession for a month without interruption or alarm; during which time a remarkable accident happened which deserves to be related. Drake, having some intention of treating with the Spaniards, sent to them a Negro-boy with a flag of truce, which one of the Spaniards so little regarded, that he stabbed him through the body with a lance. The boy, notwithstanding his wound, came back to the general, related the treatment which he had found, and died in his sight. Drake was so incensed at this outrage, that he ordered two friars, then his prisoners, to be conveyed with a guard to the place where the crime was committed, and hanged up in the sight of the Spaniards, declaring that two Spanish prisoners should undergo the same death every day, till the offender should be delivered up by them: they were too well acquainted with the character of Drake not to bring him on the day following, when, to impress the shame of such actions more effectually upon them, he compelled them to execute him with their own hands. Of this town, at their departure, they demolished part, and admitted the rest to be ransomed for five-and-twenty thousand ducats. From thence they sailed to Carthagena, where the enemy having received intelligence of the fate of St. Domingo, had strengthened their fortifications, and prepared to defend themselves with great obstinacy; but the English, landing in the night, came upon them by a way which they did not suspect, and being better armed, partly by surprize, and partly by superiority of order and valour, became masters of the place, where they stayed without fear or danger six weeks, and at their departure received an hundred and ten thousand ducats, for the ransom of the town. They afterwards took St. Augustin, and touching at Virginia took on board the governor, Mr. Lane, with the English that had been left there the year before by Sir Walter Raleigh, and arrived at Portsmouth on July 28, 1586, having lost in the voyage seven hundred and fifty men. The gain of this expedition amounted to sixty thousand pounds, of which forty were the share of the adventurers who fitted out the ships, and the rest distributed among the several crews, amounted to six pounds each man. So cheaply is life sometimes hazarded! The transactions against the Armada, 1588, are in themselves far more memorable, but less necessary to be recited in this succinct narrative; only let it be remembered, that the post of viceadmiral of England, to which Sir Francis Drake was theu raised, is a sufficient proof, that no obscurity of birth, or meanness of fortune, is unsur. mounabtle to bravery and diligence. In 1595 Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins were sent with a fleet to the West Indies, which expedition was only memorable for the destruction of Nombre de Dios, and the death of the two commanders, of whom Sir Francis Drake died January 9, 1597, and was thrown into the sea in a leaden coffin, with all the pomp of naval obsequies. It is reported by some that the ill success of this Voyage hastened his death. Upon what this conjecture is grounded does not appear, and we may be allowed to hope, for the honour of so great a man, that it is without foundation; and that he, whom no series of success could ever betray to vanity or negligence, could have supported a change of fortune without impatience or dejection. BARRETIER.* HAVING AVING not been able to procure materials for a compleat life of Mr. Barretier, and being nevertheless willing to gratify the curiosity justly raised in the publick by his uncommon attainments, we think the following extracts of letters, written by his father, proper to be inserted in our collection, as they contain many remarkable passages, and exhibit a general view of his genius and learning. JOHN PHILIP BARRETIER was born at Schwabach, January 19, 1720-21. His father was a Calvinist minister of that place, who took upon himself the care of his education. What arts of instruction he used, or by what method he regulated the studies of his son, we are not able to inform the publick: but take this opportunity of intreating those who have received more compleat intelligence, not to deny mankind so great a benefit as the improvement of education. If Mr. Le Fevre thought the method in which he taught his children worthy to be communicated to the learned world, how justly may Mr. * This article was first printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1740. N. Barretier claim the universal attention of mankind to a scheme of education that has produced such a stupendous progress! The authors who have endeavoured to teach certain and unfailing rules for obtaining a long life, however they have failed in their attempts, are universally confessed to have at least the merit of a great and noble design, and to have deserved gratitude and honour. How much more then is due to Mr. Barretier, who has succeeded in what they have only attempted! for to prolong life, and improve it, are nearly the same. If to have all that riches can purchase, is to be rich; if to do all that can be done in a long time, is to live long; he is equally a benefactor to mankind, who teaches them to protract the duration, or shorten the business of life. That there are few things more worthy our curiosity than this method, by which the father assisted the genius of the son, every man will be convinced, that considers the early proficiency at which it enabled him to arrive; such a proficiency as no one has yet reached at the same age, and to which it is therefore probable that every advantageous circumstance concurred. At the age of nine years, he not only was master of five languages, an attainment in itself almost incredible, but understood, says his father, the holy writers better in their original tongues than in his own. If he means by this assertion, that he knew the sense of many passages in the original, which were obscure in the translation, the account, however wonderful, may be admitted; but if he intends to tell his correspondent, that his son was better acquainted with the two languages of the Bible than with his own, he must be allowed to speak hyperbolically, or to admit that his son had somewhat |