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further inveftigation. That gentleman fays, that river-water will leave no Sediments of earthy particles at the bottom of` the tea-kettle." This may be strictly true in many, or, if you pleafe, in molt cafes: but is it univerfally fo? or, when we talk of "rivers", are we exclufively to underftand natural rivers, which flow in their original felf-formed channels, undiverted from their courfe by human industry. This question is not foreign to the purpofe that ftream, for example, which is commonly called The New River, and whole water supplies fo great a portion of the metropolis-in what light are we to view it? Though, in ftrict propriety of fpeech, it be only a canal or aqueduct, yet, when every circumftance is duly confidered, its water, I think, may very fairly be deemed river-water. Now, I can pofitively affert from ocular conviction, and can prove by the evidence of my own tea-kettle, that the New River water does depofit earthy fediments, which, in time, concrefce to ftone. My kettle has never had in it a fingle drop of any other than the New River water, from the time when it came new into my poffeffion about four or five years ago: nevertheless, at the moment when I propofed my queries, it was completely lined with a ftony incruf tation, not indeed fo thick as I have seen in fome kettles in country parts, yet little fhort of half an inch in, thickness.

It

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*Ον Θεος θελει 'απολλύειν, πριν αφρονει Quem Jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius.

PERMIT a well winner to inquire of

the critical readers of the Monthly Magazine, whether they know any other intances of the verbs apps and demento ufed in an active fenfe. Thefe verbs have,

I think, been generally taken for actives
in the lines prefixed: But if there is no
authority for this conftruction, would it
not be better to understand them in a neuter
fenfe, in conformity with their fignifica
tion in all other inftances? The fyntax
will then be," Ille, quem Deus vult per-
dere, prius dementat," ie. infanit, delirat,
defipit. The only authors within my
knowledge who use the verb demento are
Apuleius and Lactantius; it is a neuter
with both: The tranflator of the proverb
in queftion was evidently directed in the
choice of this uncouth word by the corre
fponding word in the Greek appa, demens.
Oxford,
Your's, &c.
Nov.13, 1803
GRAMMATTICUS.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

OU

inch in thicknerve that You may have read lately in the pub

may be mine is an iron kettle: and, whether iron poffeffes a greater aptitude, than copper, to attract the earthy particles, is a point that deferves confideration. To me it appears an interefting question: for, if it can be ascertained that the fame water, which depofits an earthy fediment in iron veffels, leaves none in thofe of copper, it muft neceffarily follow that the water comes much less pure and wholejome from a copper kettle, than from an iron one, and that the latter is of courfe preferable. But this is a point which yet remains to be proved.

I recollect, indeed, to have been informed, a few years fince, by a gentleman connected with the New River Company, that they had tried caft-iron cocks in the main-pipes which run along the streets; but that these were, in no very long time, nearly choaked with tony incrustations, and that the Company were in confequence forced to refume the ufe of wooden cocks, which, in their former practice, they had not found liable to the lame inconvenience.

I conclude by expreffing a wifh that these crude remarks may attract the notice of fome more fcientific man than I, who may be able and willing to communicate

ed meat, offered for fale by the butchers, being feized by magiftrates, and burnt. As this is an inftance of the zeal of autho

rity interfering with commerce, it has connection enough with a defence of foreftalling for me to be permitted to ask a few questions.

1. By what arguments has it been proved, that meat kept fo long as to be offenfive to the nofe is alfo unwhole fome to the (tomach?

2. How comes it, that, if meat fo kept be dangerous to the poor, it should be innoxious to the rich; and that a mayor, after deftroying meat kept five days, may go home to his dinner on venifon kept ten?

3. As the meat was "burnt, and not buried, because it was unfit even for dogs," are all dog-feeders in an error (for they feed with carrion highly putrid); and is the dog himself in a mistake, when he buries his bone til it is rotten?

4. Do you think that the butcher is not fufficiently punished for not having attended to the state of the atmosphere, by the lofs arifing from the decreased price of his meat; and will he not be more careful in future, if he do not fuffer the lofs of the whole ? MISORHETOR. To

The fhaggy portraits of his fathers fhame,
Their ruity armour, and Herculean frame.
Though countless quarters fill th' armo-
rial fhield,

To virtue ftill nobility must yield.
Be by defert a Churchill or a Hyde,
Be noble acts, not noble birth, your pride.
Let thefe, tho' Chancellor, precede your

mace;

Let thefe, not Garter, make the crowd give place

If juft in word and deed, I ask no more.
The patent's clear. My Lord, you walk be-

fore:

For he, whofe virtues earn a nation's thanks, Beyond a Percy or a Howard ranks.

His country too old Egypt's cry will join : " 'Tis found—'tis found-au honeft patriot's mine:

Nobles give way. Nor white nor fable rod Shall dare precede "the nobleft work of

God." +Call we high-born the wretch who fhames his birth?

Shall paft fupply the want of prefent worth?
Then may a Watfon's fon his God belie,
A Mansfield's cheat, an Abercromby's fly.
Who but a fool his infant would baptize
Goliah, thus to fwell his pigmy fize;
With Cupid dream to bleach his negro's face,
Or cure the rickets with the name of Grace?
The mangy pug, Mifs Prue's fupreme de-
light,

Whofe charm is uglinefs, whofe fpirit spite, Call'd Hero, Prince, or fomething more auguft,

Creates but more abhorrence and disgust. Beware left thus Mahon or Plaffy || thow How war-worn titles a burlefque may grow. § But whither tends this harsh preceptive vein?

To you, O Q-, I fuit the ftrain,

Who thro' St. James's pace with pompous gait,

As if your own deferts had made you great. "Hence, vulgar crew," indignant you exclaim,

"Who scarcely know the country whence you came!

"A Ds I." Long, mighty D-s, live, And tafte the joy thefe precious letters give. Yet fhould great D-s have a caufe to plead,

Some low plebeian's talents must be fee'd,
To empty coronets who hires his brains,
And laws they made, to fenators explains.

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Oft from a cottage fprings fome powerful mind,

Which all the fophift's cobwebs can unwind; Or fome bold warrior, who, from India's shore

To either pole, Lids British thunder roar. What excellence is your's? A Douglas blood!'

Say are you wife? A D--! Brave or good?

∙ A D——s' Well-But if fo great and dull,

How differs then your Grace's noble skull From your great Grandfire's on his buft of ftoue?

A block of marble his-and your's of bone.

*We act more fairly with the beftial tribes, Where individual worth their rank prefcribes.

The swifteft ever is the nobleft horse,
Who wins the plate, and triumphs on the
courfe ;

Tho' mean his pafture and obfcure his breed,
His blood himfelf ennobles by his fpeed.
But fhould the coit of Diamond or High-
flyer

Be diftanced on the turf, and fhame his fire,
Off, off to Tattersall's, conceal his birth,
And on his ftrength, not fwiftnefs, reft his
worth :

He ftill may ferve a brewer's rumbling dray.
Or amble, harness'd, in a tradesman's bay.
Hence that yourfelf, and not your fires, may
plead

1

Some claim to rank, perform one generous deed,

Which to the lofty titles we may join,
They gain'd by merit-you, my Lord, by

line.

tLet this fuffice for one whom Fame reports

Vacant, and vain of fervitude in courts; Fruitlefs the Mufe's admonitions there, Where fenfe to read, or feel, them is fo rare. On borrow'd fame 'tis wretched to re

pofe;

The prop enfeebled, down the fabric goes.
But would you gain a felf-fupported foul,
Nor, like the yielding hop, require a pole,
Be firmly virtuous; true to every truít;
Brave as a foldier; as an umpire juft.
Should you be fummon'd by a fhameless
Court,

Where will is law, affaffination sport,
Tho' o'er your neck the guillotine they
poite,

Point to the criminal, and dictate lies, Yield not your honour in the jaws of death, Nor meanly barter happinefs for breath.

*Verfe 56-70. + Verfe 71-74. Verfe 76-84.

MEMOIRS

As, before the ftudy of a fcience is entered on, it is effential duly to appre ciate whether it merits the time that is to be bestowed on it, I fhall endeavour to prove, by a few examples, how very indifpenfable the fludy of antiquity is to him even who merely feeks to acquire a fuperficial information on fubjects in general.

The productions of the celebrated wri. ters, both ancient and modern, are replete with allufions relative to the manners and ufages of antiquity. Now, may I be permitted to afk, how the delicacy of thefe allufions can be felt, and the merit of the compofitions which contain them appreciated, without a fomewhat profound knowledge of the customs, ufages, and opinions of the ancients?

Our great poets have attained the elevation by which they are diftinguished in no other way than by an attentive ftudy of the ancients. For instance, in the Phædre of Racine is to be found whatever belongs to remote antiquity and to the mythology of the Greeks. Again, in his Athalie, we trace the customs and ufages of the ancient Hebrews. It is impoffible to form a competent opinion of thefe two masterly productions, without a knowledge of all that has been handed down to us relatively to the Greeks and the Hebrews,

The violent dispute which fubfifted between feveral celebrated characters in the reign of Louis XIV. would not have been entered on, it those who endeavoured to turn into ridicule the finest paffages of the ancients, to fecure the fuccefs of the cause of the moderns, had been better acquainted with archeology. They would then have feen that the ideas which appeared to them to be fo extraordinary, refulted from the ufages of antiquity; and that Homer, Sophocles, and Arifto. phanes, could not, in their immortal productions, conform themfelves to the cultoms of our times.

It is this want of archeological knowledge which has occafioned fo many harsh fentences to be pronounced on the works of the ancients. The chorufes of their tragedies will certainly be found very unnatural, if an eftimate be formed of them from our prefent manners: but when we reflect that the poets, to conform themselves to the tafe of their contemporaries, were under the neceflity of introducing chorufes in which political queftions were difcuffed, we cannot refrain from admiring the art with which the ancient dramatic authors contrived to connect these choruffes with the action.

Thofe who are ignorant of the importance annexed by the Greeks to their chariot-races, will confider Sophocles as having been guilty of a great fault in his Electra, when he puts into the mouth of the perfon who comes to recount the death of Oreftes, a long defcription of the above forts.

Thofe who are unacquainted with the Homeric cuftoms, may be led to make many injudicious criticifins relative to the works of Homer. That pompous and folemn mode of expreffion which the Greek and Trojan heroes conftantly adopt, will appear to them to be unnatural. They will be difgusted with the poet, on account of the barbarity with which he makes the warriors of Homer treat their prifoners, as well as with their ferocity towards the bodies of their vanqu:fhed enemies, which they either deftine as food for their dogs, or practice on them every mak of barbarity. The Princess Nauficæ, playing with a ball, and washing her linen, will appear to them as ridicu. lous as the Princes who prepare their own reparts. The fage Neftor will have the air of wishing to ftimulate the Grecks to a brutal action, when he holds out to each of them the profpect of bringing back with him a Trojan woman, to attend on him, and fhare his bed, to fuch as are not aware that this was the lot which the conquerors invariably deftined for the vanquished; and that whatever makes us fhudder, in these conceptions and ideas, belongs to the customs of the time, not to Homer, who was under the neceffity of conforming to them.

It is, therefore, impoffible to form a found and correct judgment of the tafte and genius of the ancients, without a knowledge of antiquity. What is fill more, it is impoflible, without fuch a knowledge, to comprehend the fenfe of certain paffages in the ancient authors. For inftance, the well known verfe of Horace which has been fo often quoted,

"Cane tulit punctum qui mifcuit utile dulci,” cannot be fully comprehended by any one who is ignorant of the mode adopted by the Romans in chufing their magiftrates, namely, that of making a dot at the end of the name of the individual on whom their choi.e fell. I could cite a thoufand fimilar inftances of the neceffity of the ftudy of archeology, in acquiring a tho rough knowledge of claffical authors.

This obfervation is not confined to the poets alone, feeing that the hiftorians and orators are in the fame predicament, and equally unintelligible to thofe who have not been tiated in the myfteries of an

tiquity,

tiquity. Finally, without the ftudy of antiquity, it is impoffible to comprehend the allegory of a bas-relief, or of a picture, and to judge of the truth of the columes, decorations, and other parts of a theatrical representation.

Accordingly, it cannot be expected that any progrefs can be made in letters, without a knowledge of antiquity. The ferences go hand in hand; and it is eafy to prove that archeology principally lends its aid to all the others.

Ancient geography is indifpenfable to him who is defirous to reap advantage from the perufal of hiftory; and this science receives its principal lights from numifmatics. Medals not only fupply us with the reprefentations of feveral celebrated places; but we likewife find on them the names of a great number of provinces, colonies, cities, and municipalities, which, unless for them, would either not have been known to exist, or would have left us in uncertainty as to their true fite and pofition.

Chronology, that other torch of hiftory, likew le repotes on the monuments, and principally on the medals and infcriptions. They contain irrefragable proofs by which celebrated epochs and important eras are fixed; at the fame time that the series of events is proved by them in a certain and determinate manner. Relatively to the infcriptions, it will be fufficient to cite the high authority of the Arundel marbles, and of other celebrated monuments of the fame kind. By the help of medals, archeologifts have been enabled to trace the hiftory of nations, and of kings, who were without historians, and whofe memorable actions would, without fuch a refource, have been with difficulty brought together. The names of different magiftracies; the determination of different weights; and the titles of various princes, are, in many cafes, to be acquired in no other way than by ancient medals. Finally, without the aid of the different defcriptions of monuments, it is impoffible to eftablish the authenticity of certain events, which have been altered in the recitals handed down to us.

Mythology, by which painting and poetry are animated, is one of the most curious parts of antiquity. Those who have not entered profoundly into its ftudy, can neither be fenfible of the merit of the greater part of the allegories, nor divine the fubject of a piece of sculpture, or of a picture. But how is mythology to be learned, without a comprehenfion, not only of the ancient authors, but of the monu

ments. Spence, in his Polymetis, has proved the degree of intereft with which the works of the poets and those of the artists mutually explain each other. Pine's Horace, Sandby's Virgil, and feveral other fimilar claffical productions, evince the great value which the ancient monuments, applied to the paffages of the poets, add to the editions of their works. The poets may ferve to fix the age of the mythological monuments, by making us acquainted with the different changes fables have undergone fince the time of Homer, either in the manner of relating them, or in their representation; but we are indebted to the monuments for a multitude of details relative to the religion of different nations. We find in them the names of the gods, the func tions of their minifters, and the inftructions and ceremonies of their worship.

The civil and military ufages of the ancients are as well explained by the monuments, as are the facred cuftoms and religious opinions. We notice in them the urenfils neceffary to domeftic life, the warlike machines, the order of the battles and marches, as well as of the fieges and encampments, the fcenic games, the fpectacies of the amphitheatres, and a multitude of hiftorical fingularities equally inftructive and amufing.

Unlefs for the monuments, where would the elements of the ancient languages and ancient writings be found? The literary hiftory of all the fciences, cannot, with any certainty, be fupported on any other bafis than that of the antique monu

ments.

Several ancient laws, and juridical formules, as well as the names of the ancient magiftrates, cannot be ascertained without the help of medals. The natural hiftory of the ancients is elucidated by the great variety of animals and plants reprefented on the monuments, and, more especially, on the engraved ftones and medals. The figure of the Hyæna, and that of the Hippopotamus, or Sea-horse, were preferved on them, after these animals had cealed to be known in Europe; and the bicorne Rhinoceros was depicted on them, at a time when its existence was obftinately denied.

The monuments afford us alfo on opportunity of viewing the traits of men celebrated on account of their virtues, of their knowledge, of their valour, and even of their vices. A comparison of the busts, engraved stones, and medals, enables us to afcertain the exactitude of the refemblance; and we may thus fee the faithful delineations of the men by

whofe

whofe talents we are enlightened, and whofe great actions ftimulate us to virtue, while they elevate our courage.

It is impoffible, as I have already had occafion to obferve, to explain without a knowledge of archeology the different fubjects reprefented by the arts; and it is equally impoffible, without fuch a reSource, to judge folidly of the works of art. The immortal writings of Winckelmann, of Mengs, and of Sulzer, have demonftrated how effentially neceffary this 'fcience is, in forming the tafte, and in acquiring a juft idea of the different degrees of the beautiful and sublime.

Laftly, what fatisfaction can refult from travels, if the perfon who undertakes them is unable to appreciate the merit of the monuments diiperfed in the different countries through which he paffes; and to inspect, with fome hare of difcernment, the productions of the living ar tifts, together with the muleums, cabi nets, &c.? How, indeed, can he travel with advantage to himself and others, without a preliminary knowledge of the different branches of archeology?

Thefe details are fufficient to point out the great utility of archeology, and to demonftrate that it is the most intruc'tive and moft amufing part of history. (To be continued.)

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

the information given by " A Por

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Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea forbiswhich words I cannot pass over, without fubmitting to the judgement of better critics than myself, whether, instead of Fermento, we ought not to read Frumento, as in the paffage of Tacitus quoted by your correspondent. The phrafe, pocula vitea, is a marked expreffion; and, in two at the three cafes, the poet points out, not the liquor itself, or the mode of preparing it, but the natural production fron which it was derived. By the correction, Frumento, we find his phrafeology perfectly uniform and confiftent, viz. that from corn and fruits they extracted liquors which ferved as fubftitutes for the juice of the vine or grape." Befides, what other paffage, in the whole compafs of Latinity, can be adduced to prove that fermentum was ever uled to fignify fermented liquor, as it is here commonly interpreted?

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Earlier than Tacitus, Pliny, or Virgil, we find that Xenophon, in his "Anaba

Tter Drinker," in page 12 of your Jis, mentions beer, which he found

laft Number, allow me curforily to add a few particulars.

1

The elder Pliny fomewhere mentions beer as used by the Gauls; and, whether they borrowed the art of brewing from any other nation, or were folely indebted for it to their own ingenuity, the practice could not have been novel among them in Pliny's day; for the ufe of the liquor itself must have been long known, before the drinkers of it learned to employ its feum (or yeast) in fermenting their bread; which Pliny fays that the Gauls did. His words, if I rightly quote from memory, are--"Galli cerevifiæ fpuma panem fermentant." This paffage naturally calls the attention to note the revolutions produced in arts and domeftic economy by accidental circumstances. Though the ule of yeast feems to have been general among the Gauls in Pliny's time; yet, after the wine had been propagated through their country, and Bacchus had fnatched the cup from the hand of Ceres, yealt appears to have gradually fallen into difule and oblivion; fince, on an at

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among fome of the favage tribes through whole countries he paffed in the famous retreat of the ten thousand. He calls it «barley-wine-vos pievos-and, accuftomed as his Greeks were to good wine from the grape, this barbaric liquor was, by his account, too frong for them, un lefs they tempered it with water—a μn Tis idop Exo, or words to that effect.— From his defcription of its strength, we might be tempted to confider this barleywine as fomething like the Scoth or Irish whiskey, if he had not added the characteristic circumftance of its carrying a high head of froth, which brings it nearer to our modern beer.

The Jews too, it appears, were acquainted, in our Saviour's time, with fome other inebriating liquor besides wine ; fince we find the angel, in the gofpel, predicting that John the Baptift fhould not drink either wine or "SİKERA." Leaving to learned Orientalifts to determine whether that fikera was beer, cider, or whiskey, I think highly probable, that, from their intercourfe with the Egyptians,

the

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