its ufe utterly inconfiftent with all decen- ers. PROFESSOR LICHTENSTEIN, of cy and cleanliness. Hamburgh, pointed it out to Mr. HERBERT CROFT, who, unfortunately for English literature, is, with his dictionary, at that place. I fhall transcribe the paffage in queftion, for the fake of an obfervation which it will produce. There is fomething ludicrous and ftrangely incongruous in the idea of a great monarch publishing a philippic againft fo trivial a thing as TOBACCO. But James's intentions were, in this inftance, certainly good; and his arguments are far from bad. Where he only, mutters prejudice againft prejudice, the king's prejudices appear to be more nearly allied to found reafon than those which he strives to explode. The truth is, that TOBACCO had been fuddenly received into exceffive and universal use, with fuch a fond afcription to it, of imaginary virtues, as could not but difguft the wife; and that James, although probably wrong in denying all virtues to this herb, was certainly right in oppofing the notion of its being an incomparable panacea. His majesty's ftyle is, in this little piece, fufficiently correct, lively, and flowing: there is a vein of good fenfe, wit, and eloquence, which runs through the whole; but, there is, likewife---to ufe a miner's term---a gangue of abfurdities and James feems, as it were, in every fentence, to fay to his readers, "How wonderfully wife and condefcending I be!" : He incidentally introduces fome curious facts, and feveral diverting expreffions. He relates that it was common for young ladies to entertain their lovers with a pipe of TOBACCO. Some gentlemen of his court, he tells us, were accustomed to watte no lefs than three or four hundred pounds a year, upon this fingle luxury. He fays too, that it was ufed as a powerful aphrodifac. He particularly deplores the cafe of delicate, wholefome, clean-complexioned wives, whofe husbands were not ashamed to pollute them with the perpetual, ftinking torment of TOBACCO-fmoke. The concluding fentence of this difcourfe, is certainly a laughable one. The ufe of TOBACCO, fays he, is---" a custom loathfome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black flinking fume thereof, neareft resembling the horrid Stygian fmoke of the pit that is bottomlefs !" "And Antiochus faid to his generals, do you not know, and are you not informed, that the people of the Jews, which are in Jerufalem amongst us,--they do not fear our religion, nor obferve our customs, nor approach to them`; and they neglect the laws of the king, for to obferve their own laws. They alfo wait for the time of the extirpation of kings, governors, and lieutenants; they fay, hous long shall our king reign over us? For we will reign, ourselves, over the fea and the continent, and the whole world shall be given in our hands. "It would not be reasonable for the king to allow that fuch men and principles fhould be fpread over the furface of the earth. Now, let us go and attack them, and deftroy the conflitution, which they have given to themselves, the fabbath, and the new months, and the circumcifion---" This paffage is, no doubt, at the prefent moment, of a very striking nature, and the application is obvious, as defcriptive of the French nation, and their ambitious projects. A learned friend is almost inclined to call it a prophecy. But, without the flightest fufpicion of its authenticity, (fince indeed it comes on the beft authority) there is nothing but what is moft natural in the fentiment. The ancient Hebrews were always republicans, and the genius of their constitution was the pureft democracy. Even when they once called fo loudly for a king, it was confidered by their prophets as a proof of their reftlefs and intractable character. But it is not for this reflection that I have pointed out this curious frag ment. What I have to obferve, is this. We have of late been frequently furprised by finfilar extracts; and the very fentiments, even of obfcure individuals, have been quoted, as of the prophetic ftrain." The truth will, however, be fimply this. Society, like Nature herfelf, has certain ftages: and men in parall fituations, must evidently act and it ink alike. The cir cle of human events is not vaft; and in its rotatory inction it must happen, that the fame point will, again and again, be uppermott. That femblance of novelty, which the face of things wears to the $ 2 bulk bulk of mankind, is nothing but a femblance; what we act, we have acted; what we think, we have thought. I will boldly affert, that, probably, even the wildeft conceptions of a visionary mind may, find either the fame, or a fimilar folly, in the former periods; and fo much indeed do men think and act alike, in the parallel stages of the human mind, that I even fufpect (if one madman has not the fame kind of imagination as another) a council of lunatics would probably be more unanimous than a council of fages.. And, to illuftrate my general obfervation, fhould we turn over the publications which appeared fome time before and after our own happy revolution, moft of those works will appear as books written for the emergencies of the prefent day. I have just looked into two tragedies of Southerne, "The Siege of Capua," and "The Spartan Dume." They contain fituations, fentiments, and reflections, which may greatly instruct us at the prefent momentous period; a period which haraffes the human mind more than it extends its capacity, and, while it inAames the paffions, clouds the intellect. THIS BLUE BEARD. 1 HIS celebrated perfonage, who has during our childhood fo frequently alarmed us in a dark night, and particularly the young ladies, is now exhibited with great terror and advantage, in our new drama, founded on the French piece of Barbe-bleue. It is poffible that fome of his numerous fpectators may defire to know fomething relative to his "birth, life, and education.". Our English compounder of this piece has made him a bafbaw; taking up, no doubt, the popular idea, that the murderer of feven wives moft undoubtedly have been a Turk. A learned foreigner, however, informs me, that the original Blue-beard was the Marquis De Laval, Marshal of France, and defcended from one of its moft illuftrious families. This Marthal was of a very fingular character. Mezeray has given a very fatisfactory account of him; but the reader will be satisfied by the notices which he may find in the "Nouveau Dictionnaire Hiftorique." Laval was a general of great intrepidity, and diftinguished himfelf in chafing back the English when they invaded France, in the reign of our Edward III. The fervices he rendered his country might have immortalized his name, had he not for ever blotted his glory oy the most terrible murders, im pieties and debaucheries. His revenues were princely; his prodigalities might have made an emperor a bankrupt. Whereever he went, he had in his fuite a feraglio; a company of theatrical performers; a band of musicians; a focietyof forcerers; a good number of cooks; packs of dogs of various kinds: and more than two hundred led horfes. Mezeray adds, that he encouraged and maintained forcerers and enchanters to difcover hidden treasures, and corrupted young perfons of both fexes, that he might attach them to him, and afterwards killed them, for the fake of their blood, which was neceffary to form his charms and incantations. Such horrid exceffes are credible, when we recollect the age of ignorance and barbarity in which they were practiced. At length De Laval was brought to the scaffold, for a state crime; the others were probably never noticed! His confeffion at his death is remarkable: he acknowledged that "all his exceffes were derived from bis wretched education." T POETICAL MEMORY. I would doubtless be a happy acqui fition to most delicate and elegant minds, who are apt to feel in this life too many irritations, to ftore their memory with fine verfes, fo as to have them at will, and to turn away the fenfation of actual disgust, while they exalt their taste. It would be like the ingenious invention of the celebrated Mr. De Luc, who always carries about him fome fugar, to put in his mouth when he finds himself inclined to anger. The following anecdote will fhew the utility of a poetical memory. Averani was a lover of fine verfes, and when he walked alone he recited them aloud, with a fenfation of pleature that was visible in his face. One day, hearing a very tedious and prolix fpeech, as he appeared extremely fatisfied, and even attentive, one of his friends was furprized at this, till coming near him, he perceived he was rehearting fome verfes from Homer! OPINION CONCERNING THE GREAT, BY ONE WHO KNEW THEM. HE Duke de Noailles told the infa The Dedina Dubois, that hilto the council had made the great men of the ry would not forget, that his entrance into kingdom quit it. Dubois replied, who are called the Great, I find them lo "Since I have known what thofe are little, that I shall never put this day in the lift of my triumphs." ( 131 ) VARIETIES, LITERARY and PHILOSOPHICAL; Including Notices of Works in Hand, Domestic and Foreign. Authentic Communications for this Article will always be thankfully received. MR. TOOKE's Life of the late Emprefs of Ruffia, will shortly make its appearance in three volumes, embeldifhed with portraits. A Tour in Switzerland, from the brilliant pen of Mifs H. M. Williams, will be published early in March. The much expected edition of the Works and Letters of the late Earl of Orford, and Captain G. VANCOUVER'S Voyage round the World, are in confider. able forwardness. The first part, containing the first ten numbers of a fplendid "Hiftorical Atlas of England," on an entire new plan, by Mr. ANDREWS, Geographer of Piccadilly, will make its appearance in a few days. This work does great credit to the inventor; and the letter prefs which accompanies it, containing accounts of the rivers, mines, mineral waters, fisheries, &c. and of the civil, military, ecclefiaftical, naval, biographical, commercial and parliamentary hiftory of England, ancient and modern, forms a magnificent fpecimen of English typography. Mr. ANDREWS allo propofes to publifh, in the courfe of next month, a "Geographical Atlas of England," upon a fimilar, though less extenfive, plan than the above, for the illuftration of the Hiftory of England, and for the improvement of youth. A tranflation by Mr. JOHN GIFFORD, of CAMILLE JORDAN'S Addrefs to his Constituents on his late Profcription, will fhortly make its appearance. Mr. MURPHY is about to publish a tragedy on a very interesting subject, but which, from the prefent ftate of the drama, he does not think it prudent to bring out on the stage. He is alfo engaged on his long-expected "Life of Samuel Foote. Dr. BISSET will speedily publish a Life of Mr. Burkę. Mr. COTTLE, of Bristol, is about to publifh a moral and defcriptive poem, called "Malvern Hill " The fermons of the late Mr. JARDINE, are nearly ready for delivery. Mr. LLOYD and Mr. LAMB are about to publifh two volumes of mifcellaneous pieces, to be entitled "Blank Verle." A volume of Letters from the late Rev. Sir JAMES STONEHOUSE, Bart, to the Rev. Mr. STEDMAN, of Shrewsbury, is preparing for the prefs, A new edition of Mr. SOUTHEY'S "Joan of Art," is in the prefs. This work has undergone very confiderable alterations; the additional notes will be numerous, and an analysis of the poem Chapelain is to be prefixed. The ninth book, greatly enlarged, will be published feparately, under the title of "The Vifion of the Maid of Orleans." A new and elegant edition, with confiderable improvements, of "The Seafide," a poem in familiar epiftles, from Mr. SIMKIN SLENDER WIT, fummerifing at Ramfgate, to his dear mother in town, will make its appearance in a few days. The pofthumous works, in profe and verfe, of the late JOHN MACLAURIN, Lord DREGHORN, long an eminent advocate at the Scottish bar, and in the latter part of his life, a diftinguished member of the Supreme Civil Court of Scotland, are now in the prefs at Edinburgh, and will be publifhed within a few months, in two volumes, Svo. An Ode to War, belonging to this collection, is fpoken of as difplaying fome very noble ftrokes of the picturefque, the terrible, and the true fublime. Mr. MALCOLM LAING is expected to publifh in the courfe of the prefent year, The Hiftory of Scotland, during the feventeenth Century." Little doubt is entertained, but this work will, in elaborateness of fearch, in ardent patriotism of fentiment, in the adaptation of history to illuftrate and confirm popular opinions in philofophy, greatly excel that portion of Mr. HERON's Hiftory of Scotland, which relates to the fame period. Mr. JOHN HOME, whofe tragedy of Douglas is ftill the pride of the British drama, is understood to have been for many years engaged in the compofition of a "Hiftory of the Rebellion of 1745." Motives of perfonal delicacy, it is feared, will difpofe him to decline publishing this valuable work in his own life-time, but rather to leave it at his death, so that it may be delivered by pofthumous publication, as a valuable legacy to pofterity. Mr. ANDREW DALZIEL, the able profeffor of Gresk language and literature in the University of Edinburgh, is expected fhortly to fend to the prefs, “A Selection of Latin Poetry," composed by eminent ftatefinery in the end of the fixteenth, and 132 Literary and Philofophical News.. and in the first part of the feventeenth century; which will ferve as a facred monument of the genius and claffical erudition of the Scots; and will evince, that in the powers of Latin compofition, they were, in the æra here specified, inferior to the Italians alone, and greatly fuperior to the French, to the English, to the Poles, to the Germans, and the Dutch. At a late meeting of the HIGHLAND SOCIETY, fome communications were made from a fub-committee, which reprefent confiderable progrefs to have been made in the endeavour finally to afcertain the truth in that interefting literary queftion, concerning the authenticity of the poems afcribed to Offian the fon of Fingal. The following Table indicates the new Geographical Diftribution of the Ligurian (Genoefe) Republic, including the departments, capital towns, population, and the number of deputies that each department returns to the Legislative Body. Departments. 1 Genoa, Capitals. Population. D. Genoa, 81205 13 San-remo, 83647 6 Diano, 40120 6 Pietra, 40659 6 Safona 37767 6 Valtri, 39736 6 Rivarola, 33698 5 Gavi, 26800 4 Rochetta, 25820 4 Ottone, 25280 4 St.Martino, 40390 Rappallo, 40430 6 Chiavani, 40570 6 Givanto, 40153 6 40210 6 15 Golfa dellaSpezia,Spezia, 6 636485 90 Profeffor OLIVARIUS, of Kiel, continues to publish the periodical work which we before announced.---One of the valuable articles in the last Number, on the liberty of the profs in Denmark, proves, that under the Danish Government, defpotical as it is, the moft delicate fubjects can be handled with impunity. The complete works of P. POIVRE, intendant of the Illes of France and Bourbon, have been recently published in Paris, in one octavo volume. This volume contains the life of POIVRE; his "Voyage d'une Philofophe;" information relative to the agriculture of the above colonies; extract of a voyage to the Philippine iflands; miffion to the Molucca islands; extract of a voyage from Sonnerat to India and China; letter relative to the Indian method of dying; account of the removal of the cinnamon and clove trees to the Isle of France; &c. &c. The Brunonian fyftem, which has met with fo much oppofition in the native country of its author, has found profelytes in feveral parts of Europe. A German physician, WEIKARD, pub. lifhed fome time ago, "An Examination of a more fimple System of Medicine, or the Illuftration and Confirmation of the Medicinal Doctrine of Brown." This work has been tranflated into the Italian language, and enriched with notes, by Profeffor FRANK, of the Univerfity of Pavia; and from this Italian edition a French one is preparing by LɛVEILLE, member of the Medical Society of Paris. On, the 1st of December last, the Director General of Public Inftruction in Paris diftributed the prizes among the fuccefsful candidates, pupils of the National fchool of painting and fculpture. Real talents, developed by a constant and laborious application, were crowned at this interefting ceremony. He The great confumption of foap, which of courie is attended with a proportionate confumption of oil, renders the manufacture of woollen cloths very expensive. Several attempts have therefore been made to difpenfe with this ingredient, by subftituting pot afhes in its ftead: but the ftrong alkaline properties of the latter never fail to corrode the cloth, and render it unferviceable. To remedy this inconvenience, M. CHAPTAL has made experiments of a very ingenious process, by faturating the alkaline liquid wool, previous to its application to the manufacture of cloths. After lixiviating the ashes, he faturates the water, and lets it evaporate to a certain degree. then throws into his lixivium pieces of cloth and wool, taking care to fir the compofition, till the rags are completely diffolved. An adequate proportion of wool is fuperadded, till the corrofive qualities of the liquid are perfectly abforbed; when it may be ufed without the smalleft inconvenience or danger. It communicates an excellent glofs to the cloth, renders it completely fupple, and in every refpect answers all the purposes of common foap. It is neceflary to obferve, that the cloth in the firft instance acquires a very strong and difagreeable mell, which, however, vanishes on its being bleached. And, fecondly, the indifcriminate ufe of pieces of cloth of various colours, in faturating the lixivium, communicates a duty tinge to the cloth, Philofophical News.....Works in Hand, &c. which proves no detriment to dark cloths, but confiderably affects the gloffinefs of lighter colours. This inconvenience is eally obviated, by employing, in the latter cafe, only white rags for faturating the lixivium. The Royal Library in Copenhagen has been enriched by the acquifition of the valuable collection of books belonging to the celebrated chancellor, de Suhm. This nobleman, by way of compenfation for this literary ceffion, enjoys a yearly penfion of 3000 rix-dollars during Life, with a contingent annuity of 2000 rix-dollars to his lady, in cafe of furvival. A defcriptive catalogue has recently been published in Stockholm, of the valuable antiques purchafed at Rome, by Gustavus III. This catalogue is illustrated with 17 plates. Among the moft remarkable articles may be reckoned a beautiful bas relief, reprefenting a tripod placed upon an altar, with a flambeau at the foot, round which a ferpent entwines itself. The altar bears this infeription, "malus genius Bruti." Facing it is a winged genius, holding a drawn bow in his hand, feemingly in the act of difcharging his fhaft at the ferpent. The drefs of the genius is Phrygian or Perfian. The editor is of opinion, that this antique is the production of the firft years of the Auguftan age, and pronounces it to be anterior to that state of perfection which the art of fculpture attained towards the clofe of this emperor's reign. The Botanical Garden at Gottingen has been confiderably enlarged, and its valuable herbary enriched by the acquifition of the excellent and numerous collection of the late celebrated botanist Eberhardt, who was commiffioned by the King of England to compile the Flora Hanoverana. Nor do the arts in this active moment meet with lefs encouragement than the fciences. Befides the rich collection of impreflions by Uffenbach, this Univerfity has recently been put in poffeffion of the beautiful cabinet of paintings belonging to the late Aulic counfellor J. W. Zichern. This collection confifts of 270 articles, worthy of the Flemish, Dutch, and German schools. Oxygene appears now to be the order of the day. Mr. Trotter ributes the fea fcurvy to want of oxygene. Gir tanner is of opinion, that fyphilis is induced, in confequence of a deficiency of oxygene in the fyftem, Some afcribe 133 the curative operation of mercurial oxe ydes in lues, to the oxygene they contain. While others pretend to have cured particular chronic diftempers, incident to the human frame, by the fole agency of oxygene. The Philotechnical Society in Paris held their public fittings on the 11th of laft October. The proceedings of this affembly are greatly interefting. The Secretary, in a preliminary fpeech, obferved, that inftead of launching out into a dry and uninftructive analyfis of the whole proceedings of the fociety, they they would confine their obfervations to a recapitulation of the new and important difcoveries which fhould be made from fitting to fitting in the Sciences, the Belles Lettres, and the Arts. In pursuance of this judicious determination, report was made on the fubject of the firft part of the Engravings illuftrative of the "Hiftory of Iftria and Dalmatia." Then followed the report of the Commiffaries appointed by the Society to examine the Panorama of Paris, executed in bas relief, by DARNAUD. MANGOURIT read a differtation, entitled, "Thoughts on the progressive march of the Human Race, round the whole Compafs of the Globe. The author regards all the different nations fcattered on the face of the earth, as one large fociety, which fucceffively makes the tour of every part of the globe, halting at particular places, till it has exhaufted all the various productions of the region, where they fix their temporary fojourn. Planters and cultivators of wafte lands are the harbingers of this large moving mafs of people and thofe countries, where the arts and fciences flourish in the greatest perfection, form their place of temporary fojourn. This fojourn at prefent is Europe, but from a variety of ingenious conjectures, and actual refearches made by the author, during a long feries of journies in different parts of America, Citizen MANGOURIT gives it as his opinion, that Europe is threatened with no very diftant emigration of the large fociety of mankind, who will pafs over to America, whither they have already fent their harbingers, the cultivators and planters. LAVALLE terminated the fittings,with pronouncing a fpirited eulogium upon General Marceau. Dufrefne has communicated to the Society of Natural History at Paris, the *A notice of this ingenious performance was given in our Magazine for last November. defcription |