MODERN LITERATURE--BAYLE'S CRITICAL DICTIONARY. 382 CHARACTERISTICS OF BAYLE. 383 CICERO VIEWED AS A COLLECTOR. 396 THE HISTORY OF THE CARACCI. 399 AN ENGLISH ACADEMY OF LITERATURE. 406 QUOTATION. 416 THE ORIGIN OF DANTE'S INFERNO. 421 OF A HISTORY OF EVENTS WHICH HAVE NOT HAPPENED. 428 OF FALSE POLITICAL REPORTS. 438 OF SUPPRESSORS AND DILAPIDATORS OF MANUSCRIPTS. 443 PARODIES. 453 ANECDOTES OF THE FAIRFAX FAMILY. 461 MEDICINE AND MORALS. 464 PSALM-SINGING. 472 ON THE RIDICULOUS TITLES ASSUMED BY ITALIAN ACADEMIES. 479 ON THE HERO OF HUDIBRAS; BUTLER VINDICATED. 491 SHENSTONE'S SCHOOL-MISTRESS. 496 BEN JONSON ON TRANSLATION. 500 THE LOVES OF "THE LADY ARABELLA." 502 DOMESTIC HISTORY OF SIR EDWARD COKE. 519 OF COKE'S STYLE, AND HIS CONDUCT. 530 SECRET HISTORY OF AUTHORS WHO HAVE RUINED THEIR BOOKSELLERS. 532 CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. CHARLES THE FIRST. Of his romantic excursion into Spain for the Infanta, many curious particulars are scattered amongst foreign writers, which display the superstitious prejudices which prevailed on this occasion, and, perhaps, develope the mysterious politics of the courts of Spain and Rome. Cardinal Gaetano, who had long been nuncio in Spain, observes, that the people, accustomed to revere the Inquisition as the oracle of divinity, abhorred the proposal of the marriage of the Infanta with an heretical prince; but that the king's council, and all wise politicians, were desirous of its accomplishment. Gregory XV. held a consultation of cardinals, where it was agreed that the just apprehension which the English catholics entertained of being more cruelly persecuted, if this marriage failed, was a sufficient reason to justify the pope. The dispensation was therefore immediately granted, and sent to the nuncio of Spain, with orders to inform the Prince of Wales, in case of rupture, that no impediment of the marriage proceeded from the court of Rome, who, on the contrary, had expedited the dispensation. The prince's excursion to Madrid was, however, universally blamed, as being inimical to state interests. Nani, author of a history of Venice, which, according to his digressive manner, is the universal history of his times, has noticed this affair. "The people talked, and the English murmured more than any other nation, to see the only son of the king and heir of his realms venture on so long a voyage, and present himself rather as a hostage, than a husband to a foreign court, which so widely differed in government and religion, to obtain by force of prayer and supplications a woman whom Philip and his ministers made a point of honour and conscience to refuse."[1]