[Dunlop, _Hist. Fiction_, iii. 491., speaks of this romance as
"generally, and I believe on good grounds, supposed to be the work of
the celebrated Berkeley;" adding, "we are told, in the life of this
celebrated man, that Plato was his favourite author: and, indeed, of all
English writers Berkeley has most successfully imitated the style and
manner of that philosopher. It is not impossible, therefore, that the
fanciful republic of the Grecian sage may have led Berkeley to write
_Gaudentio di Lucca_, of which the principal object apparently is to
describe a faultless and patriarchal form of governnent." The subject is
a very curious one, and invites the further inquiry of our valued
correspondent.--ED.]
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