must have been derogatory and mortifying to their self-importance. 2. That in their review of your article, they told at least two falsehoods, knowing them to be such; and, of course, for the mere unworthy purpose of injuring you in the eyes of the world. "That it is in vain for them now to urge, that, if you did not copy from an authur, without acknowledgment when they asserted you did thus copy from him, they have since discovered that you have copied without acknowledgment from others. The public (and I as one of them) have a short and easy method of settling this point, with out troubling ourselves with a reference, by simply observing, that the man who could wilfully lie in the first instance, is infinitely more likely to lie in the second. He has not only betrayed the cloven foot, but avowedly exhibited it to the public and lias nullified his own authority by his motive, and his own testimony by his self-conviction of falsehood. 4. All this is confirmed and established by the Reviewers' concluding declaration, that they now willingly take leave of a subject, which no consideration shail induce them to resume;" a declaration, by which they obviously refuse admission to any thing you may send them, as they did in the case of your former letter: for why should they be guilty of so palpable a piece of injustice, as that of excluding you from the only ground where you can fairly repel their attack to the satisfaction of all their readers; except it be, that they know you have the means of perfectly refuting their calumnies, and thus of still farther depreciating their moral characzer in the estimation of the public?" Thus far from the communication of my learned friend. Readers of a different description, however, may very probably pass over the self-destructive pas sages in the Reviewers' epistle with little concern, and admit that at least my character is rendered suspicious, that there must be some ground for the charges, that they must be partly true, &c. &c. Many readers, Mr. Editor, listen with eagerness to an accusation, and half wish it true; many are prejudiced, on some account, in favour of the Edinburgh Reviewers, and think they are too honest, many more think they are too politic, to comisit their character thus deliberately upon a groundless calumny. I cannot therefore agree with some of my friends, in apprehending no injury whatever from this unprincipled attack, were I to treat it with silent contempt. Allow me, now, Sir, to quote a passage from the Preface to my Treatise of Mechanics, which alone would be held a sufficient answer, I trust, to the charge of plagiarism. "In the composition of the first volume of this Treatise, I have derived material assistance from the labours of several of my predecessors in this department of science; though I have not, perhaps, so frequently cited my authorities as some readers may be apt to expect: but this will not, I trust, on consideration, be thought a culpable omission; for, although I have not, for example, ascribed to Prony what I found in succession in the writings of Varignon, Belisor, Bezout, and D'Alembert, nor to Parkinson, or Atwood, what had previously appeared in the writings of Galileo, Wilkins, Wallis, Desaguliers, or Emer.on, esteeming whatever I found in such circumstances, as common property to be adopted without hesitation; yet, in all cases where I could speak confidently of the original author, and particularly where the matter quoted had been but seldom published, I have not failed to make the corresponding reference. As to the second volume, it is professedly a compilation; and I have no other merit to claim respecting it, than that of having employed much labour and pains in consulting a great many volumes of jour nals, transactions, arts, encyclopædias, theatres of machines, &c. published in England, France, and Germany; and having selected from these numerous, and often voluminous, works, such particulars as were most likely to be serviceable to my countrymen, when presented to them, (separate from every thing extraneous,) in a moderate-sized single vo lume." Such, Mr. Editor, was my language in December, 1805. At the end of four years, the active, indefatigable malignity of the Edinburgh Reviewers, (and in this I must own them superior to all other human beings, except the North American Indians,) has collected together, out of two volumes, containing more than one thousand and fifty pages, five or six instances, in which, according to their representation, I might scemi to have infringed upon the established rules of authorship. Sir, I speak with that confidence, which a man, whose moral character is unimpeached, may be justified in using, when he confronts himself to anonymous writers, self-convicted again and again of deception, prevari cation, and falsehood; when I affirm that, in the course of a deliberate search, I have found only one place in which a reference that ought to have been made, has been even accidentally omitted. This one relates to Venturi's disquisition on the exhaustion of vessels through orifices,, in their bases; which I now regret having inserted, because, however clegant the the investigation may appear, it is defective and useless.* I may also affirm, with equal confidence, and equal certainty of being believed, that the Edinburgh Reviewers, in their new string of accusations, have charged me with stealing from works which I never saw; with copying the article "Thrashing Machines," from the Encyclopædia Britannica, though I never read that article, and do not know to the present moment, (except from their disputable testimony,) that any such article is there; with copying the account of Verrier's mill from Brewster's Ferguson, when they must know, because I refer expressly to the work, that the account was taken from Bailey's Collection of Machines in the Repository of the Society of Arts, published more than thirty years ago! After all this, it cannot be necessary for me to attend seriously to their insinuation respecting a new title-page, instead of a new edition. Let them tell me how it is possible to print a new edition of so extensive a work, with the dispatch requisite to meet a rapid demand, without distributing the matter into the hands of different compositors; sheets. A, B, C, D, for example, to cne; sheets E, F, G, I, to a second; sheets I, K, L, M, to a third, &c. and, farther, how it is pos. sible to effect this, without contriving every alteration, so that the quantity in each respective sheet shall remain as before. Let them tell me this, and I shall then be quite ready to reply to any thing else upon the subject, which their consummate cunning, and mighty malice, may devise. I will not now, Mr. Editor, intrude farther upon the patience of your readers. At some future period, when I have more leisure than I now possess to devote to a disgusting employment, I may develope the train of motives which have led to an attack upon my character, unprecedented in the history of literature. I may probably do more. When men combine together, not for the purpose of fair and honourable criticism, but with the design of hunting down talents and merit, wherever they appear on this side of the Tweed, besides gratifying private feelings, and pursuing pri Even here, however, I may remark, that but a few pages farther on, (viz. page 433,) I refer expressly to Venturi's work, in such terms of commendation, as would induce a reader to consult it; which I should hardly have done, had I wished to conceal my author. vate ends, not necessary to be mentioned here; it becomes an imperious duty to expose their artifices to the public in dignation. This duty, unless it soon fall into better hands, I shall not shrink from discharging: and I have long been in possession of numerous facts, which, when I can find time to prepare them for publication, will illustrate much of the secret history of the Edinburgh Review. Such an exposure of the motives, and conduct of its proprietors and prin cipal writers, will no doubt be called, however temperate, a "violent and abusive attack;" but the public in general will thank me for unmasking their moral character, will rejoice to hear their pi teous exclamations, and "mock when their fear cometh." For my own part, anxiety for my reputation has given me but little uneasiness, compared with the pain of beholding talents which, however overrated by the multitude, I am willing to respect, associated with a depravity which I am compelled to abhor. Your's, &c. OLINTHUS GREGORY. Royal Military Academy, P. S. Permit me to throw into a Postscript some particulars, which, though I forgot to introduce them into the body of the letter, may perhaps be too important to be omitted entirely: viz. that Dr. Brewster, (whose name has been of such singular service to the Edinburgh Reviewers, on the present occasion,) to me, both personally and by letter, for the has more than once expressed his obligations notice I have taken of his performances, and for referring to them; that we have communicated to each other mutually, in the most friendly manner, hints for the improvement of our respective works; that he has applied to me by letter, more than once, to prepare scientific articies in the Edinburgh Encyclo pædia, of which he is the editor, though he knew at the same time, that I was editor of a similar work publishing here; expatiating, in marks even the commercial part of literahis applications, upon "the liberality which ture" that he has spoken to me in the highest possible terms of the utility of my Treatise of Mechanics, and has recommended it warmly in his own work, as well as in treatises he prepared for the Encyclopædia Britannica, in the formation of which, he declared my work was of essential service to him: and that, even after the Edinburgh Reviewers' first attack upon me, he said, (Mr. Telford, the civil engineer, being present,) that I could not perform a more important service to the British Of this liberality, his booksellers, and his friends and companions, the Edinburgh Reviewers, have furnished noble specimens. For the Monthly Magazine. An ACCOUNT of the BEGINNING of 100LATRY amongst the SONS of ADAM; translated from the PERSIAN ISTORY of KHONDEMEER, and originally published at CALCUTTA, in the MISCELLANY of MR. GLADWIN. HIS subject having given rise to a TH variety of conjectures, and as this abridgment would not contain all the traditions that have been produced in support of those opinions, I shall only deliver, in a summary manner, one of them, which appears to be nearest to truth. It is related, that Enoch had an intimate friend, who had been instructed by hearing his philosophical discourses; and after Enoch's ascension into Hea ven, this friend bewailed the separation with lamentations and groans, so that his days were spent in grief and misery. This having coine to the knowledge of Satau, be went to him, and said, "If you desire it of me, I will make for you an image, which shall be such an exact representation of Enoch, that from beholding it, your mind shall be relieved from its present distress." The man accepted of Satan's proposal, who performed his promise; and the grief of the friend of Enoch was greatly mitigated at the sight of the image. And he placed the image in a room of his house, where no one went but himself, and every evening and morning he comforted himself with the sight thereof. It happened that the friend of Enoch died in that room, where he had placed the image. And when, after some days, he had not been seen by his neighbours, they came to search his house, and found him dead by the side of the idol. The men were astonished at the sight, and immediately Satan appeared amongst them, in a human shape, and said unto them, of them formed an idol like unto that "Enoch and this map, who was his friend, worshipped this image, who is the Lord of the universe; on which account they obtained their wishes." The temptation of the devil having made impression upon his audience, they cach The son of Lamech, the son of Methusalem, the son of Enoch.-He was the first prophet who denounced unto the unbrelievers the punishments of hell; and he was the first by whose curse a multitude of them perished. In the day of resurrection, he will be the second person raised from the grave. No prophet lived to so great an age as Noah. The nations being at this time universally addicted to the sins of giving companions to God, worshipping of idols, blasphemy, and every other species of wickedness, God raised up the prophet Noah, and sent him to exhort them to repentance. According to tradition, he continued for the space of nine hundred and fifty years, point out the true road to the sons of Adam; at the expiration of which period, finding only eighty persons that had faith in his doctriures, and experiencing great trouble and vexation from the unbelievers, he despaired of effecting their reformation; and therefore prayed God to extirpate every soul of them from the face of the earth. God having approved thereof, a voice came unto Noah, saying, "Plant the Sabin tree, and employ thyself in making an ark; for I will entirely destroy these people with water, and commit them alk to the flames of hell." It is related, that Gabriel brought unto Noah a young sapling of the Sabin tree, and instructed him how to plant it. After forty years growth, when that tree was arrived at perfection, Noah felled it, and when it was dry he em ployed himself in building the ark. The ark consisted of three stories; the upper one was allotted for the birds; in the bottom story, were placed every kind of beast in pairs; and the middle apart ment was the habitation of Noah and bis family, being in all eighty persons. And Noah, at the command of God, having put the body of Adam into a coffin, carried it with him into the ark. And at that time, the sun, the moon, and the planets, came into conjunction in a watery sign, when, by command of the high God, the waters continued to rise out of the earth, and the rain fell from the heavens incessantly, for the space of forty days and forty nights, till the whole earth was deluged. It is related that Noah had an idolatrous son, named Yiam, (also called Kanaan), who, notwithstanding notwithstanding all the warnings and commands of his father, would not consent to go into the ark; saying, he would take refuge in the mountains, where he should be safe from the waters; therefore that youth, and his mother, who was named Wauilah, not giving faith to Noah, were both drowned. Historians agree in describing the inundation as having been, so excessive, that the waters rose to the height of forty cubits above the tops of the most lofty mountains; and they say, that even then they did not reach above the kuce-pan, of Awj Ben Unuck, although he was not arrived at his full growth. The ark, having gone round the earth several times, it at last rested on the top of mount Ararat. The rain ceased; and the earth, after six months, having soaked up the water, Noah and all the living creatures came out of the ark on the second day of the month Ramzan. The family of Noab built a city at the foot of mount Ararat, and called it Sukel-Samancen. And it came to pass, after a short space of time, out of those eighty persons, there were only left Noah, and his three sons, with their wives. Noah lived two hundred and fifty years after the flood; he was two hundred and fifty years old when he received the gift of prophesy; and he preached for the space of nine hundred and fifty years. The days of Noah were one thousand four hundred and fifty years. And he left behind him three sons, Japhet, Shem, and Ham, from whom the whole human race are descended. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, SIR, S public speaking discovers itself or clauses, which modify, and of others, which are modified; and the same communication will also discover to him, that the characteristic feature of the voice, in the pronunciation of a proposition, indicates either continuation or completion. As therefore the less signification of one or more clauses may be restrained, or altered, by the power and influence of others more significant; so in the delivery, that the progress and coinpletion of a whole passage may be gradually conveyed to the ear, the attention must be kept alive, by suitable degrees of suspension in the voice, we take a more enlarged view of oral sounds, we shall find, that in the arrangement of diffuse periods, there may be members, whose completeness as to meaning, have certain degrees of intonation; and which, to indicate their just relations to a whole, terminate with pro-, portionate qualities of sound. If from this Thus, in the most rude and uncultivated appearance of the subject before us, are we sensible of something like leading principle and rule; but the indefinite idea of sound, and its relation to articulate voice, seems to have involved the thoughts of those hitherto interested. in the enquiry, in considerable obscurity. For this reason, perhaps, the method of conveying information to students in clocution, have not been sufficiently pertinent. Numerous instances may be adduced, wherein the spirit of a proposition, depends more upon the peculiar turn of voice, than upon that stress which assists. in placing varieties in contradistinction one to another. This has been successfully pointed out by the late Mr. Walker; and what an ingenious writer, in the mid A by the signs of voice, countenance, dle of the last century, had advanced on and gesture, to be a beautiful copy of correct conversation, that system, which, by analogous methods, proceeds from the best portraits of the original, to explain the numerous successions of these signs, must be the most steady mode by which we can attain a just and graceful elocution. Of this nature appears to be the study of inflexion. It is lamentable, however, to observe, that, notwithstanding the very great advantage which such a theory must afford to the admirers of the science, its efficacy is not generally understood, and, consequently, it cannot be properly appreciated. A slender converse with logical deduction, will inform the student, that phraseology is made up of certain members, marks or signs, for the management of us by Cicero, in his Disquisition on Sounds. sess Although the accent and quantity of words, with the genuine import of simple and complex articulation, should occupy a very considerable share of the student's regard, the acquirement of these different combinations, forms a distinct part of pronunciation; for it is possible to posa correct idea of the proper force and accent of each individual character, separately, or independent of each other, without the capability of displaying, with just emphasis and discretion, the relative situations of words, arranged in due order, forming discourse. In conformity, therefore, with this position, a general survey of articulate voices, will serve as a substructure to the theory of inflexion. Audible voice is produced by a set of muscles acting on the cartilaginous cavity at the top of the trachea, or wind-pipe, called the larynx, while the air is passing through the glottis. When the recurrent nerve, on one side of the larynx is cut, the voice becomes remark ably weaker; when both are cut, it is entirely and irrecoverably lost.* Articulation is either a definite, or indefinite, quality of sound, modified by the palate, teeth, lips, nostrils, and cavities of them. When the common current of breath, is urged more forcibly through these various apertures of articulation, without much affecting the larynx, we have an instance of the indefinite sound, known by the name of the whisper. What is termed hoarseness of voice, proceeds from: various causes, foreign to the present purpose. It may not, however, be unnecessary for the student to know, that anatomists state, when the larynx is injured, the air though the cartilages acted by the muscles, passes through the wind-pipe, without yielding the ordinary sound. In audible voice, then, the air, while passing from the lungs to the mouth, must affect the larynx. We may have an opportunity of further dedacing, by experiment, that, from the peculiar nature of the constituent parts of the larynx and its orifice, the whole diversity of sound, may be distinctly heard, though the mouth be shut; and from this.may be eastly conceived, that, as the sound and tone of the voice depend upon the diameter of the glottis vera, or orifice of "the glottis, with tre to son of its liga ments, and not upon the different formations of the mouth-the whole diversity of articulation may be accomplished in any one note of a diatonic or chromatic scale of music. This idea appears to agree with that melodious arrangement of sound called singing; for the leaps, or intervals of sound, may be heard, understood, and compared, with any note of the same measurable gamut or scale, after the articulation shall have ceased. If we extend the subject to the speaking voice of man, we shall be led to suppose, that it is formed of such minute and eva nescent variations and inflexions of sound, as could not possibly be represented by any scale of notes, or formula, hitherto invented. To this definition of vocal sounds, the student will further observe, that musical notes are not susceptive of the slightest elevation or depression of sound; thus, each note, however com. prehensive as to time, is of the same quality from the beginning to the end; but speaking sounds are of very short duration; they are "emitted with ease through the glottis, at the pronunciation of every distinct syllable, frequently shifting at once, or gliding in a wave-like manner, through small" but not "immeasurable intervals; and now and then leaping from one musical note to another, considerably distant; but in all cases articulated by the affluent breath, as it is differently affected by the organs of the mouth." In this essay, we have already had oc casion to speak of certain sounds, which, in their general sense, indicate the conti nuation or completion of a thought or proposition; but as these sounds, in their fullest meaning, are discernible in a single word of four or five syllabics, with a little method, the student may be readily furnished with a more determinate idea of their more essential parts. In order, therefore, to acquire a clearer conception of these distinctions, ve must select an appropriate word, and then mark the change of sound provinced by the " accentuation." A little attention, while pronouncing the word, placed at the close of the last period, within the signs of the quotation, will show the distinction required. As it is perfectiv easy, in this instance, to discover, the t the voice signifies incompletion on the three first syllables of the word descri bed, viz. " accentu-" so it will not be dithcult to perceive, that the terminating sound of the same word, signifying completion, |