that needed alteration, fhould have affinity with the fubject of his narra. been noted in the margin. It is true tion; who drops his proper theme, Mr. L. mentions, that he has "re- the poet, to expatiate on the caft of quefted the MS to be preferved, for talents poffeffed by Gilbert Burns, his the fatisfaction of those who may with to be fatisfied on this head;" but this is by no means a fufficient method of difclofure. The poem, in its polifhed ftate, is published to the world; while the genuine production is, neceffarily, infpected only by fele& individuals. brother; a man with whom the world could have no farther concern, as his abilities were not fufficient to attract notice, than the mere with to be told that he was good and profperous. To pen "the thort and fimple annals of the poor" requires the hand of a I had imagined that the custom of mafter. An uneducated genius is viewprefixing to a work any commenda- ed as a kind of prodigy; and, in the tory verfes which the partiality, or story of a wonder, none but touches juftice, of friends might prefent to the of delicacy fhould be ufed. An injuauthor, had been long fince set aside. dicious adherence to that circumftanMr. L., however, has thought pro- tial method of biography that I have per to revive this not very delicate pointed out, can fcarcely fail to propractice. The reader may fincerely duce derition, inftead of the refpectaccord with the fentiments of "Mifs ful attention to which the subject may Sarah, Watfon, Finch: now Mrs. be entitled. Lofft," while he muft needs think the good fenfe of Mr. Bloomfield undervalued by the infertion of her pane. gyric. As the preface opens with a fonnet of praife, it is clofed with an epigiam; both of which might, perhaps, any where elfe be read with pleafure. Indeed, Mr. L. feems defirous of giving each of his friends niche" in the little temple of fame that he has affilted to rear; and, frequently, with juft as much propriety as Mallet promifed to introduce Garrick into his Life of John Duke of Marlborough. a I am, Sir, your conftant reader, Z. To the Editor of the Universal Mag. "HE faw; but, blafted with excefs of light, GRAY's Progrefs of Poefy. I cannot help thinking that this image in Gray's beautiful Ode, notwithftanding the fource from whence he derives the thought, is too grofs a play upon words, too mean a quibble, for a poem of fo dignified a character as the Ode. Dr. Johnfon, if fevere on many parts of Gray's compofitions, at Though, in thefe circumftances, any rate looked mildly on this. He Mr. Lofft might probably have per- fays: "His (Gray's) account of Milformed his talk with more difcrimina- ton's blindness, if we fuppofe it cauftion, yet the public is highly indebt- ed by ftudy in the formation of his ed to him for the fpirit and liberality poem, a fuppofition furely allowable, with which he efpoufed the caufe of is poetically true, and happily ima unfriended genius in the twilight of gined." its dawn; while for the uninterefting garrulity of his memoirs fome apo logy may be offered on the fcore of precedent. From the unkind climate of the farmer's firefide, Burns as well as Bloomfield arofe, and compelled, like him, the notice and admiration of the tasteful and the learned. He, too, has had his hiftorian, and an hiftorian ready to inform the world, with microfcopic accuracy, of the fortunes, temper, and habits of all who claimed But, "The living throne, the fapphire blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze!" the poet only expreffes Milton to have beheld mentally; and how an object contemplated merely in the towering flight of imagination can, by any poetical licence, be figured to "blast the fight" phyfically, I profefs myfelf unable to comprehend. It might madden the brain, but the eye-ball would remain untouched. J. B. A. Your's, &c. To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. I HAVE lately been reading Sophocles' Tragedy called, " Edipus Coloneus," and notwithstanding the feveral emendations of numerous critics, I muft think the reading in the fourth act, and third scene, line 1450, is not fane. The common reading is Ορα, ὁρᾷ ταυτ ̓ ἀεὶ σε Χρόνος· ἐπεὶ μὲν ἕτερα, “ Τὰ δὲ πήματ' αυθις ἄυξων ἄνω . Which we may conftrue into Latin thus: "Videt, videt, hæs femper Et hæc mala denuò dirigens. prefages fome imminent and additional misfortune to Edipus). Perhaps the Chorus meant to add, fince he adds other evils upon former ones (or evils upon evils) in a continuous feries -But the air, O! Jupiter! thunders above, again increafing the misfortunes (of Edipus; fci:) In Burton's Pentalogia a note fays, "Tum fenfus, tum metrum_pro τι σήματ' poftulant παρ' ήμαρ. Quo" modo legendum effe cenfebat Can"terus loco memorato. Atque ita "proculdubio fcriptum erat in codice, quo ufus eft vetus Scholiaftes."The words of the fcholiaft are, Triσιν, ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ πολλαὶ μεταβολαὶ γίγνον ται, καὶ ὁρᾶται ὁ χρόνος πολλὰ μὲν ἄυξων παρ ̓ ἦμαρ, πολλὰ δὲ ἐἰς τὸ ἔμπαλιν τρε πων.”. -"Tis true and evident that 64 "Time always fees thefe things; who again heaps up evils upon others." the fcholiaft has the words here unThe conftruction, if we embrace this dermarked in his explanation and mode of interpretation, appears to me amplification of the fentence, but this lame and incongruous. by no means fhews that this was the I beg leave, with all due deference original reading of the text. Befides, to learned commentators, to propose I cannot fee how this emendation (as fome alteration in the punctuation, it is called) will correct the metre. which will not only improve the con- In its unaltered state we may thus ftruction, but likewife make the fenfe measure it: clearer. Suppofe, then, instead of the prefent interpunction, we read the lines thus: « Ορᾷ, ορᾷ ταυτ ̓ ἀεὶ Χρόνος· ἐπεὶ μὲν ἕτερα “ Τὰ δὲ πήματ' αυθις ἄυξων, ἄνω “Extower άidup, à Zĩu.” I make a break after ἕτερα ; the Chorus, having heard the terrible imprecations denounced by Edipus againft Polynices, fays, that they are affured the events imprecated will come to pafs; that, having found from experience that all the decrees of the gods have their predicted iffue, they will never call their oracles vain; for Time fees, always fees, these things (i. e. Time will fee the confummation of these things); fince (Here a clap of thunder interrupts the fentence, and ftrikes the Chorus with aftonishment and fear, for it was all confidered as the forerunner of fome great event; and here they imagine it VOL. III. Ta di rar äudiç äveŵr ävä •. Αφορμα ποτ', εκ άνιν ξυμφορας The fyllable in the firft verfe is required to be long instead of being short; in confideration of which they fubftitute Τα δε παρ' ημαρ where the two thort fyllables & and Tap' are made equivalent to the long one-p-in the fecond verfe. But, inftead of thus twisting the fenfe, and making this revolution in the text, may we not place &, instead of ? which would make the measure perfect, without diftorting the fenfe.-An, according to Vigems, Zeunius, and Schrevelius, is frequently used for (vide De Idiotifmis, article An; Zeunius's note in Vig.; and Schrevelius's Dic., article An). Therefore read: If the above remarks meet with infertion in your Magazine, I shall be B emboldened to repeat my communi- two triangles, which have all their cations. Your's, with respect and admiration for your ably conducted Mifcellany, EDW. LANGLEY, D.D. To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. IN the courfe of my ftudies in the mathematics, I have met with occafional inaccuracies in Dr. Simpson's Euclid, which I think ought to be made known in the world, efpecially that young fludents in this abftrufe branch of erudition may not have their judgments milled and their conceptions warped by erroneous doctrine. fides and angles equal, each to each; then let the two triangles be applied to one another, being exactly equal to each other, they must confequently exactly coincide; the bafes will therefore coincide; the fides are equal by the hypothefis, and therefore upon the fame bafe (for the bafes perfectly coinciding, form a common bafe) there may be two triangles, coinciding with each other, that have the fides, which are terminated in one extremity of the bafe equal, and likewife those which are terminated in the other extremity. Should thefe trifling animadverfions be deemed worthy of infertion in your refpectable Mifcellany, the honour will amply repay the trouble of— Your's, &c. WM. CASE, LL.D. To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. Dr. Simpfon, in endeavouring to elucidate that difficult axiom upon parallel lines, has made feveral paralogifms, which, far from confirming, greatly invalidate his reasonings. Omitting others of more trifling moment, let us obferve what he fays in his 5th Prop. upon this (viz. the 12th) THE Enquirer of Mr. Godwin havaxiom. In his demonftration of this ing been the fubject of much repreProp. he feems to take it for granted, henfion from one of your correfpondthat a line, which is perpendicular to ents, permit me to endeavour to place one of two parallel lines, may be pro- that book in its true light, and to recduced till it meets the other: now tify the opinion of your numerous this is evidently a particular cafe of the readers on a fubject of no mean imvery thing which he is attempting to portance. An examination of the prove; this is fo flagrant an error, whole may be tedious, but it will be and fo very strange an overfight, that the fairest procefs, in order to arrive I cannot but wonder it fhould have at the truth; for nothing can be more efcaped the obfervation of fo acute a unjust than to felect a few pallages mathematician as Dr. Simpfon. It which appear objectionable, and dehas likewife frequently occurred to cide upon the merits of a whole me, that there is an inaccuracy in the book from fuch partial and garbled enunciation of the 17th Prop. of the evidence. To the first fentence of 1ft book. Thefe are the words: the firft effay it is impoflible honestly Upon the fame base, and upon the to oppofe a negative. If the fecond fame fide of it, there cannot be two contains a truism, it is one which triangles that have their fides, which cannot be too often repeated. The are terminated in one extremity of remainder contains nothing faulty, the bafe, equal to one another, and except a few expreffions; for instance, likewife thofe which are terminated "entertwifted" is by no means a welk in the other." Let me afk any of chofen word, and certainly is not a your mathematical readers, whether good fubftitute for "entwined."I am not right in thinking that the "There is no tranfport equal to that words "not coinciding with each other" of the performance of virtue." The are ncceffary? For, let us fuppofe performance of virtue feems rather to impart a calm fatisfaction, than to ex- Effay, on the communication of knowcite tranfports: "long views" is poor, ledge, is, perhaps, in fome parts, the in comparison of the word extenfive. moft objectionable in the whole book; But I mean not to be a mere verbal it contains fome of thofe vifionary and critic; fuffice it to have remarked these theoretical notions which have brought as a few inftances of impropriety of Mr. Godwin's philofophy into difreexpreffion, with which the book can- pute, and given room for the artful to not be denied to abound. "The ca- impofe upon the ignorant, by reprefentpacity which it is in the power of ing the whole book to be of the fame education to bestow, must confist prin- tendency. The new noftrum of phicipally in information."-Effay 2d. lofophy, which propofes to remove the The language of this fentence is re- whole formidable apparatus of the markably incorrect, for the recipient prefent mode of education, refembles and the thing to be received are con- rather the puffing advertisement of a founded together: education cannot quack, than the fober language of bestow a capacity for knowledge, any philofophy; it fhews Mr. Godwin to more than a feal can give to wax a be little converfant with young minds, capacity to receive an impreffion; and proposes, for the fake of a mere education may exercife and improve fancied inconvenience, to invert the the capacity, but it cannot create it; established order of nature, and to for as the fire renders the wax more convert the boy at once into the man. apt to receive the impreffion of the Strictly speaking, no fuch characters feal, fo education improves the mind's are left upon the fcene as either the capacity for receiving impreffions from tutor or the pupil. "The boy, like without. The fourth effay feems to the man, ftudies because he defires it." attribute genius too much to the re- A more foolish fentence never was fult of labour and ftudy; though ge- penned, for every boy can tell that nius is certainly capable of improve- the first motive to study did not origiment, yet the man of true genius can nate with himself, but from his parent hardly ever appear to himfelf to have or tutor; for boys are by nature indobeen a fool. The 5th Effay, on the lent, and, if left to themfelves, will taste for reading, cannot be too often never study at all. No doubt, it is read; and the 6th, on the study of defirable that young people fhould be the claffics, must be considered a va- left to themselves as much as is conJuable treasure in this age of innova- fiftent with their improvement, but, tion, as containing the best defence in the first inftance, the motive must of claffical learning that ever appeared: it is a pity that the author has not included Greek literature in his defence, In Effay 7th, the arguments for public education are ftrong, but the fentence in which he confiders all education as defpotifm is expreffed in terms too unqualified: it is a dangerous maxim for the ears of youth; it is, moreover, only partially true. The Effay on the happiness of youth contains, no doubt, a falfe and dangerous estimate of that state; and though it may be dictated from the author's own feelings, is by no means true of youth in general; for happinefs is not peculiar to any state of life, any more than mifery. The 3d be afforded from without. The Efay on cohabitation is one of the fanciful theories of the Godwinian philofophy, which the author foon refuted by his own example. The Effay on reasoning and contention had better have been omitted. The Effay on deception and franknefs may not be a good receipt for making a lawyer or a courtier, but it is for that which is much better-an honeft man. The next, on manly treatment and behaviour, deferves the fame character; and that on obtaining confidence is equally worthy of praife. The Effay on the choice of reading contains a valuable leffon, if applied to parents rather than children; for furely a parent Morpeth, Dec. 19, 1804. [To be continued.] To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag. fhould read nothing which he should fome felonious end, "In thy dark be afraid to entruft to his child. The lantern thus close up the stars, “That books which are dangerous to youth nature hung in heav'n, and fill'd their fhould find no countenance from the lamps "With everlasting oil." Line parent; and then the whole tribe of 221, "Was I deceiv'd, or did a fable novel-mongers, and inventors of li- cloud “Turn forth her filver lining centious trash, would be for ever ba- on the night?" Milton has fomenifhed. where, in Par. Loft, “ enamell'd turf;" W. B. and Shakespeare has in his Midfummer Night's Dream," enamell'd vi'let." In Arcades, line 84,"O'er the fmooth enamell'd green." Sabrina, in Comus, fays, line 906, "By the IN reading Philodice's admirable -ruhy-fring'd bank.” Shakespeare and fpirited vindication of the poet in the Tempeft has (Act 1, f. 4) Gray, I could not help lamenting "The fringed curtains of thine eyes." that he had not adduced more nume- We fee in Comus, 914, "O'er the rous citations in refutation of John- cowflip's velvet head," which is the fon's pofition," that an epithet or very epithet Johnson condemns. Alfo, metaphor drawn from art degrades line 1000, "Along the crifped fhades nature." I will, therefore, as a fup- and bow'rs." To crisp means to frizzle plement to his obfervations on this the hair, according to Bailey; and head, lay before the learned confuter, the original force of crifpo in Latin is and the rest of your readers, fome to frizzle (Ainsworth): in which fense quotations from feveral poets in far- Pliny ufes it; and Silius Italicus has ther fupport of the argument. In crispus with that meaning, "CrispamMilton's defcription of the 4th day of que involvere vifa eft mitis flamma cothe creation, he says, "With thou- mam;" Sil. 16. 120; likewife crisfand, thousand ftars! that then ap- pulus, as in Seneca, "Ne quis, cui peared "Spangling the hemifphere." rectior eft coma, crifpulis mifceatur." Somewhere in the Paradife Loft we In Milton's Arcades, v. 46, " Curl the find "He err'd not, for by this grove "With ringlets quaint." Ben the heav'nly bands "Down from a Jonfon, too, ufes the word curl in this fky of jafper lighted now in paradife." fenfe in one of his plays; the words I The calm unruffled fea is often ftyled cannot now recollect. Alfo v. 88, Arby claffical writers, " marmor," from cades, "Under the fhady roof "Of its likeness to a large expanfe of po- branching elms, ftar-proof." In Romeo lifhed marble: this is certainly a and Juliet, Act 4, f. 1," Thy eyes' winbeautiful metaphor, though drawn dows fall." In A&t 1, f. 3, of the Tempeft, from art. In Book V, Par. Loft, we "To do me bufinefs in the veins o' meet with "the fun, who scarce up- th' earth, "When it is bak'd with rifen, With wheels yet hov'ring o'er froft." Shakespeare has, I think it is the ocean-brim." Bailey in his in the Tempeft, "A ftorm brewing." Dictionary makes "Brim the edge And Milton, if I am not mistaken, of a glass, hat, &c." whieh are works has, in the 5th or 6th book of Paraof art. In Lycidas, line 170, "So finks the day-ftar in the ocean's bed, "And yet anon repairs his drooping head, แ And tricks his beams, and with new Spangled ore, "Flames in the forehead of the morning fky." In Comus, line 195, "O! thievifh might, "Why would't thou, but for dife Loft, "A world of brewing vapours." These are a few of the innumerable inftances of metaphors and epithets drawn from art being applied with elegance and propriety to natural objects: I have merely written down fuch as my memory at prefent fupplies, and which are perhaps enough |