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N°3. without any authentick evidence of delegation, and uttered their own determinations as the decrees of a higher judicature.

, from whom they derive their claim to decide the fate of writers, was the eldest daughter of and of : she was, at her birth, committed to the care of, and brought up by her in the palace of. Being soon distinguished by the celestials, for her uncommon qualities, she was appointed the governess of, and empowered to beat time to the chorus of the , when they sung before the throne of.

When the condescended to visit this lower world, they came accompanied by, to whom, upon her descent from her native regions,  gave a sceptre, to be carried aloft in her right hand, one end of which was tinctured with ambrosia, and inwreathed with a golden foliage of amaranths and bays; the other end was encircled with cypress and poppies, and dipped in the waters of oblivion. In her left hand she bore an unextinguishable torch, manufactured by, and lighted by , of which it was the particular quality immediately to shew every thing in its true form, however it might be disguised to common eyes. Whatever could complicate, or  could confound, was, upon the first gleam of the torch of, exhibited in its distinct parts and original simplicity; it darted through the labyrinths of sophistry, and shewed at once all the absurdities to which they served for refuge; it pierced through the robes, which rhetoric often sold to falsehood, and detected the disproportion of parts, which artificial veils had been contrived to cover.