About the middle of July will be publifbed the SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER to the FIFTH VOLUME of this work, which, befides the Title, Indexes, and a variety of valuable papers, will contain a critical and comprehenfive Retrospect of all the Books published during the laft fix months. Complete Sets, or any former Numbers of this Work, may be had of all Bookfellers. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. On Education SIR, T is no longer doubted, that by a free and reciprocal communication of ideas, which are current among different nations, not only individuals derive much benefit and amufement, but also the best interefts of science are thereby promoted. Whether our modern translators from the German have not confulted the former fpecies of advantage, rather than that refulting from verfions in favour of general literature, is not very difficult to afcertain. Among the five or fix thousand publications annually iffuing from the German prefs, it is a matter of astonishment, that thofe in the more useful branches of fcience fhould be almost entirely overlooked by our tranflators. Upon repeated inquiries among bookfellers and publifhers in this country, during the last fifteen years, it has been generally afferted, that fcarcely any other verfions from the German, but novels, ghoft-ftories, poems, and the like, would meet with a ready fale in the English market. This, however, appears to be an objection equally frivolous and ill-founded. With out prefumption it may be faid, that the want of good tranflations of scientific works from the German, is owing in. tirely to our imperfect acquaintance with the true ftate of the literature of that country. And, in order to enable the reader to judge of the great variety of books on useful fubjects, I have been at confiderable pains of difcovering the average number of works that have annually appeared during the last twelve years, in the following branches, which are throughout interefting to every cul tivated mind: On Phyfics and Natural History - In thefe branches 130 310 820 690 - 220 380 120 2670 Befides which, there are published every year, nearly the following number of works in the other departments of litera. ture, viz. In Philology and General Science In Jurifprudence, and the Art of War In the Hiftory of Literature, and Books 310 1250 440 360 330 From this fummary view of German publications, it is easy to conclude that, among fuch a variety, there must be a number of excellent as well as many frivolous productions. But, as my prefent aim is not fo much directed to investigate the nature of the fubjects which deferve to be tranflated, as to point out a few iemarks on the manner in which they have hitherto been tranflated, I must confine my obfervations within these limits. In attempting to make a correct tranflation from one modern language into another, it certainly is of the utmost importance to preferve, as much as poffible, the fpirit of the original, to unfold, in accurate expreffions, the idiom, or genius, of the language from which we tranflate, and thus to do juftice to the author. Whether a native of England or Germany is better calculated to fulfil thefe conditious, is a question that can be Namely, from the year 1785 to the decided only by the relative degree of clofe of the year 1797. knowledge which either of thefe indivi 3-F MONTHLY MAG. No, xxxii, 400 Dr. Willich on Tranflations from the German. duals poffefs of the refpective languages. 'Yet, if we were to judge from the number and excellence of German tranflations made of all English claffics, the advantage appears to be in favour of the Germans. Their language allo is more copious, and, I may add, more pliable in its modern construction (or rather inverfion), than other modern tongues, fo as to facilitate every tranflation into it from foreign languages: and, on that very account, it is more difficult in its acquifition, efpecially as it is uncommonly soaded with particles, or expletives. Hence it may be accounted for, that the French and English translations from the German, generally are deficient, both in point of fenfe and diction." In order to prove this affertion, I intended first, to furnish you with compa rative paffages from either the "Meffiah of Klopstock," or from fome of " Gefner's Idylls both of which have been most faintly and incorrectly tranflated into English. But, as I had not the originals of thefe authors in my poffeffion at prefent, I have taken the liberty of fubjoining a literal tranflation of the two firft ftanzas of "Oberon, by Wieland;" the prince of German poets, who has very lately met with a tranflator of great poetical talents, in Mr. SOTHEBY. Yet, ás I cannot approve of twisting the original of a great writer into a variety of turns and forms, merely for the fake of the rhyme, I have, as literally as was confiftent with the idiom of both languages, turned my specimen into blank verfe; while I have followed the author from line to line, without increafing the number of verfes, or changing a tingle A. F. M. WILLICH. idea. London, June 1798. I Sie drehen im kreife fich um, bis firin un◄ athem entgeht. Triumf, herr ritter triumf! Gewonnen ist die fchöne. Was fäumt ihr? fort! der Wimpel weht; Nach Rom, dafs euern bund der heilige vater kröne! Mr. SOTHEBY's Translation. Yet, once again, ye Mules! once again Where regions of romance their charms difSaddle the Hyppogryf! and wing my way play. What lovely dreams entrance th' unfetter'd brain? braids? Who round my brow the wreath enchanted Now conqu'ring, conquer'd now, in battle That veil the wonders of the world of old? bold, fee the knight's good fword, the pagan's In vain the hoary fultan foams: in vain train Spin, till their breath and fenfes die away. Triumph! the fair is won: why, knight, Forward to Rome: for thee, th' extended fail, delay? And beck'ning streamer fly before the gale. Hafte! that the holy fire may blefs your bridal day!. Dr. WILLICH's, literal Tranflation. Once more, kind Mufes! faddle the Hyp- And fpeed my ride to regions of romance! breast? Delightful dreams!-Who twifts the magic wreath That hide the wonders of the ancient world? Round Ob'ron's brow? Who frees mine eyes now, The knight's good fword, the pagan's daz- In vain the hoary fultan foams with rage, dance Origin of the Highland Drefs. For the Monthly Magazine. LETTER from an ANTIQUARY to the COLONEL of a HIGHLAND REGIMENT, on the HIGHLAND DRESS. 401 Lefley and Buchanan, 1570-1580, are therefore the first who mention the mo dern highland drefs. The former reprefents tartan as then confined to the ufe of people of rank. The latter says, IN compliance with your defire, I have the plaids of his time were brown. now the honour to fend you a few remarks on the Highland dreis. When I first faw in the papers, that you had appeared at court in a new highland drefs, fubftituting trowfers or pantaloons for the philibeg, I was highly pleafed with the improvement. The highland dress is, in fact, quite modern, and any improvement may be made without violating antiquity. Nay, the trowfers are far more ancient than the philibeg. The philibeg cannot be traced among any of the Celtic nations, Ireland, Wales, or Bretagne, either as an article of drefs, or as an old word in their languages. Giraldus Cambrenfis, A. D. 1180, informs us, that the Irish wore bracce or breeches (that is, the long, ancient breeches, now called pantaloons or trowfers). On old monuments, the Irish kings are dreffed in a clofe tunic or veft, long trowfers down to the ancle; and a long loose robe, faftened on the breaft by a large broach. Perhaps the broach might be fubftituted in your regiment for the breaft-plate, with much coftume, In the book of dreffes, printed at Paris 1562, from which fac-fimiles are published, the highland chief is in the Irish drefs, and I can difcover no philibeg. No part of the dress is tartan; nor is there a plaid, but a mantle. The women are dreffed in fheep-fkins; and as that fex is always more ornamented than the other, there is reafon to believe, that the common highland drefs was then composed of fheep or deer-ikins. Certain it is, that Froiffart, though aftonished at the fauvages d'Ecoffe, as foreigners termed the highlanders, even down to Mary's reign, and though a minute obferver, remarks no fixt appropriated drefs among them; though the plaid and philibeg, if then ufed, must have ftruck him as moft particular. Fordun, lib. ii. cap. 9, only mentions the highland people, as "amictu deformis," a term which, I dare fay, you will agree with me, rather applies to a vague favage drefs of fkins, &c. than to any regular habit. Hector Boyce, 1526, though very minute, is equally filent; but he mentions canvas hofe or trowsers, as a part of the old Scotifh dress. Advocates for the antiquity of the philibeg fay it is borrowed from the Roman military drefs. But it is quite different; for the Roman fkirts were merely thofe of the tunic, which was worn under the armour, whereas the philibeg is a detached article of drefs. It once appeared to me that the tunic. with skirts to the knee, ufed by the common people, of England in the Saxon and Norman times (iee Strutt's plates), had pailed to the lowlands; and thence to the highlands, where it remained, as moun taineers are flow in changing fashions. But it now feems far more probable, that the philibeg arofe from an article of drefs, ufed in France, England, Scotland, from about the year 1 500 to 1590, namely, the ancient haut de chauffe PROPER. Montfaucon's plates may be feen fome of thefe which are abfolute philibegs. In The ancient loose bracce were followed by tight hofe, covering thigh and leg: but, as manners advanced, thefe began to feem indecent (being linen, fitting clofe, and fhewing every joint and form); and the baut de chauffe (or top of the bose) began to be used. At first it was very fhort, and loofe as a philibeg; was lengthened by degrees, and Henry IV. of France wears it down to within three or four inches of the knee, and gathered like a petticoat tucked. Louis XIII. firft appears with what we now call breeches. Hole were ftill worn under the haut de chauffe. But as the latter was lengthened, the former were fortened, till the prefent fashion prevailed. The Germans call breeches hofen, a term which we confine to ftockings. But the baut de chauffé, or philibeg, at first invented for the fake of modesty, and to cover that indecent article the brayette or codpiece, has become among the highlanders moft indecent in itself, becaufe they do not wear, as they ought, long hole, covering thigh and leg, under the philibeg. It is not only grofsly indecent, but is filthy, as it admits duft to the skin, and emits the foetor of perfpiration; is abfurd, becaule while the breaft, &c, are twice concealed by veft and plaid, the parts moft concealed by * In England termed the bajes. 3 F 2 all 402 Highland Drefs. all other nations are but loosely covered; As to the plaid, there is no reason to believe it more ancient than the philibeg. The chief in 1562 appears in a mantle; and if the common people were then clothed in theep fkins, the plaid was fuperfluous. But I fuppofe the plaid and philibeg paffed from the low lands to the high lands about the fame time. Our old hiftorians, in fpeaking of the highlanders, always judge and defcribe, as was natural, from thofe next the low lands. In 1715, as appears from Mr. Dempfter's letter, the remote highlanders were only clothed in a long coat buttoned down to the midleg. It is to be regretted on many accounts, that our old hiftorians wrote in Latin, whence their terms are often fo vague as hardly to admit accurate interpretation. John Major, who wrote in 1521, fays, P. 54, that the caliga (hofe ?) of the highlanders did not extend below the mid-leg; and he defcribes their whole drefs to be a linen fhirt tinctured with faffron, and a chlamys (plaid, mantle, or loose coat!) above. He is fpeaking of the chiefs. The commons he defcribes as proceeding to battle in a quilted, and waxed, linen tunic, covered with deer-ikin. Not a particle you will obferve of the modern drefs. The tartan, I dare fay, paffed from Flanders (whence all our articles came), to the lowlands about the fifteenth century*, and thence to the highlands. Tartan plaids were common among old women in the lowlands, in the laft, and even the prefent century. Lord Hailes (Annals I. 37,) ludicroufly fuppofes tartan introduced by St. Margaret. The writer he quotes is only fpeaking of cloths of feveral colours, red cloth, blue cloth, green cloth, &c. while the Scots probably before followed the old Norwegian cuftom of wearing only black. * It is never mentioned before the latter part of that century. It first appears in the Accompts of James III. 1474: and feems to have paifed from England, for the rouge tartarine in the ftatutes of the order of the Bath, in the time of Edward IV. (apud Upton de Re Mil.) is furely red tartan, or cloth with sed Meipes of various shades, Names of the Deity. gularity, and vulgar glare, of tartan to Nothing can reconcile the tasteless rethe eye of fashion, and every attempt to introduce it has failed. uniform, by using only two tints of a But in your colour proverbially mild, and without and the general effect rendered very pleafglare, all fuch objections are avoided, ing. that no antiquary can object to the proFrom these remarks it may be evinced, priety of changing the philibeg to pantaloons, a change which, if univerially into the highlands, would be a laudable introduced into highland regiments, and improvement. I have the honour to be, &c. note by the colonel. 1705. will appear how completely abfurd the From the foregoing remarks it costume of many late painters, theatrical pieces, &c. must be in representing the tartan as a Scotifh drefs in all ages. It is alfo proper to inform them, that a highlander is as different from a lowlander as a Welshman from an English man. were thofe of highlanders only. The rebellion of 1715 and 1745 Caithnefs, Rofs, the weft part of InverThe highlands comprife Sutherland, nefs and Perthshire, and all Argyleshire, To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, ASit appears to be a fingular cireum ftance, that almost all nations have fend you the following catalogue in concalled the principle of the universe by a word which confifts of four letters, I firmation of this pofition; and shall only and Plato, celebrated the first effable further obferve that Orpheus, Pythagoras, divinity as a TETRADIC God. Manor Place, Yours, &c. THO. TAYLOR, by the difcipline of the Magi Or, from God was called by the Perfians Syre: whence Oromofus: by the Affyrians Olaus Magnus, called their greater god Adad, which, according to Macrobius, Oden, but their most powerful divinity fignifies one. The Goths, according to Thon. The Macedonian priests, as we Clemens Alexandrinus, invoked in their are informed by Neanthes Cyzicenus and prayers Bedy, that he might be propitious to them and their children, The Maho metans Life of John Rheinhold Forfter. metans call God Abdi. The Gauls Dicu. The Tufcans Efar. The Spaniards Diss. The Teutones Golt. The Hetrufci call him Signor Idio, that is Lord God. The Arabians, Turks, and Saracens Alla Ibel, that is, God the Juft. In the Sclavonian tongue he is called Boeg, from Goodness. In Chaldea and India he is called Efgi Abir, that is the fabricator of the univerfe. The name of the fupreme Jupiter among the Egyptians is Amun, which by corruption came to be called Ammon. This word, according to Manetho, fignifies the concealed and concealing. According to Jamblichus (" De Myfteriis, fect. 8."), this god is the demiurgic intellect, who prefides over truth and wifdom, defcends into generation, and leads into light the unapparent power of concealed reafon. By the Greeks God was called Theos; and by the Romans Deus, The proper name of God with the Hebrews is Adon, or Adni. By the Dutch he is called Godt: and with us the word Lord is fynonimous with God. By the Chinese too, the fupreme God is called Tien, and by the Danes Goed. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, PRESUME it will not be unaccept able to you to receive fome additions to, and corrections of, the account of George Forster, printed in your laft Magazine. You may rely upon their accuracy. M. POUGENS feems very strangely ignorant of the hiftory of JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, the father of George, a man more diftinguished as a literary character than his fon. He did not fend, but brought his fon George, along with the reft of his numerous family, into England, in fearch of a better fettlement than his own country afforded. It was one of thofe fpirited, though finally unfuccefsful, attempts to promote the profperity of the Warrington Academy, to engage this perfon as tutor in the modern languages, with the occafional office of lecturing in various branches of natural history. For the first department he was by no means well qualified; his extraordinary knowledge of languages, ancient and modern, being unaccompanied by a particle of tafte; and his use of them all being barbarous, though fluent. As a natural hiftorian, a critic, geographer, and antiquary, he ranked much higher; but, unfortunately, thefe were acquifitions of little value in his academical department, 403 George refided with him fome years at Warrington, and foon acquired a very perfect ufe of the English tongue. He alfo diftinguished himself greatly by his attainments in fcience and literature in general; adding to an excellent memory, quick parts and a fertile imagination. His temper was mild and amiable; in which he much differed from his father, one of the most quarrelsome and irritable of men; by which difpofition, joined to a total want of prudence in common concerns, he loft almost all the friends his talents had acquired him, and involved himfelf and family in perpetual difficulties, At length John Reinhold obtained the appointment of naturalift and philofopher (if the word may be so used) to the fecond voyage of difcovery undertaken by the celebrated Cook; and his fon George was affociated with him in his office. That M. POUGENS fhould entirely have loft fight of the father, the undoubted principal on this occafion, is not a little extraordinary; nor would it be easy to parallel the abfurdity of the epithet of the "illuftrious rival of Cook," bestowed by that writer on his young hero, not a navigator, but a naturalist of inferior rank. On their return, the two Forfters publifhed jointly a botanical work in Latin, containing the characters of a number of new genera of plants discovered by them in their circumnavigation. The account of the voyage itfelt was published in the name of George alone, in evafion of fome obligation under which the father lay, not to publish feparately from the narrative authorised by government. That the lun- · guage, which was correct and elegant, was furnished by the fon alone, could not he doubted; any more than that the matter proceeded from the joint stock of their obfervations and reflections. Several parts, particularly the elaborate investigations relative to the languages spoken by the natives of the South-fea iflands, and the fpeculations concerning their origin and fucceffive migrations, were ftrongly impreffed with the genius of the elder Forfter. I have nothing to add to the subfequent hiftory of George, as given by M. POUGENS. To criticife on the French fentimentality difplayed in the delicately ambiguous relation of his connexion with Mifs HEYNE, is far beyond my reach; nor am I at all difpofed to inquire into the juftnefs of his "revolu tionary principles." But with respect to his travels into Brabant, Holland, &c. (in the preface to his French translati of which, M. POUGENS has given bic |
