On the Perfonification of Abftra&t Ideas in Poetry. When this bufinefs is difpatched, the heavy deity immediately compofes himfelf to flumber again. rurfus molli languore folutum Depofuitque caput, ftratoque recondidit alto. Ib. 648. His head again, in languor foft diffolv'd, In quefto albergo il grave Sonno giace; 409 Ariofto in the perfonification of MOLLESSE in his Lutrin. This is a being compounded of lazinefs and luxury, for whom I know not an adequate English Her abode is fuitably fixed in the dormitory of an abbey. Her attendants are very happily conceived and characterised. name. Chanoines; Les plaifirs nonchalans folatrent alentour. Lutr. ch. ii. 100.. Boileau, that he puts too long a speech It has, I think, been justly objected to into the mouth of this languid perfonage; but he could not refift a favourable occafion for fome ingenious adulation of Louis XIV. The conclufion, however, though clofely copied from Ovid, is per... Che non puo andare, e mal fi regge in piede. fectly beautiful: Non lafcia entrar, ne riconosce alcuno : Here Indolence reclines with limbs o'ergrown Refufe their aid, and fink beneath her weight. Before the portal dull Oblivion goes, He fuffers none to pafs, for none he knows. In fhoes of felt, with fable garments bound; place. He waves his hand and warns them from the Hoole. It is a truly characteristical ftroke in Ariofto, that when the command is delivered to Sleep, he makes no reply, but intimates with a nod that it shall be performed. The very learned and elegant Professor Heyne, in an Excurfus to the fifth book of Virgil, has enumerated various ways in which the poets reprefent Somnus as caufing fleep. Virgil makes him fprinkle the temples of Palinurus with a branch wet with Lethean dew. Some ingeniously defcribe him as lulling to repofe by the fanning of his wings; and one gives him a horn out of which he pours fleep. Boileau has imitated both Ovid and -La Molleffe oppreflée Dans fa bouche a ce mot fent fa langue glacée, In Thomfon's allegorical poem, "The Castle of Indolence," fimilar conceptions to thofe of the writers above-mentioned are dreffed up in the moft exquifite beauties of defcription and verfification. But it is neceffary to felect parts of a well-known piece, the whole of which is fo admirable. [To be continued] I. A. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, BY your leave, Mr. Editor, I will correct an error of Mr. HOUSMAN, in the laft paper he has favoured us with in your valuable Mifcellany. Speaking of Litch-, field, he fays, "This town is remarkable for having given birth to two eminent men, viz. the late Dr. Johnfon, and Mr. Garrick the comedian." The latter was born at the Angel-inn at Hereford, in the year 1716, and was fon of Captain Peter G. (a French refugee) who was quar tered there with a troop of horse. It is true he received the firit rudiments of his education at the free-school at Litchfield(which he afterwards completed at Rochefter), where Dr. Johnfon and he were fellow-ftudents. By the infertion of thefe few words, you will not only restore to Hereford the honour the juftly claims, but, alfo confer a favour on your obedient ferHEREFORDIENSIS... vant, 410 On the Tie of Relationship. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.. SIR, IN your Magazine for April laft, in the account of the lives and writings of eminent foreign literati, you have obferved, that Archenholz's "Picture of England" is "highly complimentary to the genius and manners of Great Britain." It certainly is fo; but though the work is not wholly deftitute of merit, it contains many mistakes in point of fact, which might easily be pointed out, and which are calculated to mislead foreigners. About fix years ago, a " View of England, towards the Clofe of the Eighteenth Century," was published, in two volumes, by Dr. Wendeborn. That work is not fo complimentary to the English, as the publication of Archenholz; but it is abundantly more accurate, and contains much more valuable information. Dr. Wendeborn was twenty years minifter of the German chapel on Ludgate-hill; and his work is the refult of much study, obfervation, and reflection. J. T. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. T has frequently been observed, that no people, generally fpeaking, live fo ill together as relations. If this remark be true (and that it is, experience too of ten teaches us), it will furely be worth while to investigate the caufe of the complaint; for, upon the face of things, it hould appear, as if no people ought to live fo well together. Frequent intercourfe has generally been held effential to friendship; and, it may fairly be prefumed, that no people have fuch opportunities of feeing each other, as relations; but frequency of intercourfe, though it be neceffary to cement friendship, is no abfolute proof of its exiftence; any more than ftrong profeffions are, of the exiftence of fincere regard. Similarity of fentiment will naturally draw men together, and excite attachment; but there may be many circumstances, befides fimilarity of fentiment, which will promote the union of men, without fecuring their attachment. Attention to the decencies and proprieties of life; refpect, mixed with reverence for the opinions, and, fometimes, ezen for the prejudices of mankind, which few are courageous enough wholly to defpife, will often bring relations together in appearance, when, in reality, there is but little genuine efteem. Indeed both policy and morality fhould point out to then the neceffity of attaching themselves firmly to one another; but, unfortunate. ly, both policy and morality will fome. times lofe their hold upon the mind, when opposed to prejudice and paffion. Morality teaches us "to do unto others, as we would they fhould do unto us:" and policy fhews us, how ferviceable it is to our interefts to cultivate the esteem of thofe amongst whom we are placed. In fact, to him who has obferved how often the most valuable ends are brought about in life, by the moft fubordinate agents, it will be fuperfluous to urge this remark. Neceflity, or mutual want, appears to have been the foundation of most of the public and private relations of fociety; upon which was afterwards gradually raifed a fuperftructure, of fentiment, cooperation, and attachment, conftituting the finest pleasures of life. Men finding how weak and infecure they were in their individual capacities; and how incom-, Ptent to their own happiness;-first formed themselves into the more natural and obvious focieties of families, bound together by the varying ties of confanguinity, and common intereft ;-next, into the more refined ones, of states, and political bodies. It is not, therefore, without a just knowledge of our nature, I con ceive, that fome moral writers have laid down intereft as the principal fpring of human actions: for, if we look into the caufes of action, as far as they are dif cernible by us, we shall generally find intereft to be the foundation on which they act. But felf-intereft may be of various defcriptions; and, in fome cafes, fo refined, and delicate, that it is no difgrace for an honeft man to acknowledge himself influenced by it. There is fuch a thing, as the intereft which a man takes in the good opinion of the world, as well as the interest he takes in his pecuniary concerns. And hence it may possibly arise, that the opulent, and great, who have reached the top branches of society, and have little left to with for, may fometimes be more indifferent to the ties of relationship, at least in its remote parts, than the dependant members of the community, to whom the good opinion of mankind is indifpenfably requifite to succefs in their undertakings. Among the opulent, and luxurious, money creates a kind of factitious independence. It confers almost every thing that industry and talents can beftow. They who poffefs it in any eminent degree, feel how little they want fupport, compared with the reft of fociety: and this fenfation alone will have a tendency to produce indif ference On the Tie of Relationfbip.-Punctuation. 411 the duties which relations mutually owe ference of mind, if mutual want be, as is aiready obferved, the foundation of mutual accommodation. In thofe claffes of fociety where great opulence, and great luxury prevail, relations, not having many inducements to conciliate affection, will generally fee lefs of each other, than in the middle rank of life: and this circumftance may reasonably be expected to generate indifference of attachment, if friendhip arife from frequent intercourse. For, although an unvaried intercourfe may fometimes produce fatiety and difguft among friends; yet an habitual abfence will be equally apt to occafion coldness of efteem, fince it is only in the middle point of conduct, that we may justly look for warm affections. "Virtus eft medium vitiorum, et utrinque reductum." Individuals in the middle department of life, are generally aware, that if they part with thofe connexions, which nature or choice has given them, they may find it no easy matter to procure others: the opulent can perceive, that they no fooner lofe one fet of friends, than they find another ready to fucceed them. Great difparity of fortune is another principal caufe of coldness between relations. There may be disparity of fortune, where there is no abfolute want: for rich, and poor, are only relative terms, as we learn from Bishop Wation. Under thefe circumftances, it not unfrequently happens, that while the richer party require too much, the poor concede too little. Hence jealoufies, and fecret prejudices fpring up. Comparisons are made between relations, and ftrangers, unfavourable to the former. For whilst relations are but too apt to receive as matter of right, what is intended, and indeed ought to be confidered, as matter of favour; ftrangers, by the affiduity of their attentions, and the warmth of their acknowledgments, endeavour, at leaft outwardly, to exprefs a juft fenfe of obligation. In fhort, fir, it will not, I flatter myself, be going too far, to affert, that fome of the greatest errors in human conduct arise from our not difcriminating nicely the fhades of duty which fubfilt between the two extremes, of actions of abfolute neceffity, and, actions of abfolute choice. It must be obvious to every thinking perfon, that many duties occur in our intercourfe with fociety, in which, though we are phyfically free, yet we are morally bound: cafes, with different gradations by which lite refpect to which, though the municipal laws of our country are filent, yet the rature has arrived at its prefent height; laws of reafon, and the fenfe of mankind, and as the epoch of the introduction of fpeak plainly. Of this defcription, are points and flops is not the leaft important, June 2, 1798. ARISTIPPUS. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, Sit is a curious ftudy to trace the I beg 412 Early Pointing-Scots and Irish early Literature. I beg leave to oppofe fome facts to the To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, account which the compilers of the SIR, "Encyclop. Britannica" give under the WONDERFUL tales have been told article punctuation. Their words are as follow: "In the 15th century (16th, I fuppofe, they mean), we obferve their first appearance. We find, from the books of this age, that they were not all produced at the fame time; those we meet with then in ufe, being only the comma, the parenthesis, the interrogation, and the full point; to prove this, we need but Jook into "Bale's Acts of English Votaries," black letter, printed in 1550; indeed, in the dedication of this book, we difcover a colon, but, as this is the only one of the kind throughout the work, it is plain this ftop was not established at this time, and fo warily put in by the printer." In "Hackluyt's Voyages," printed in 1599, we fee the first inftance of a femicolon. Now, fir, I can eafily fuppofe they were not all introduced at the fame time; fo far we agree. But, that the colon was introduced meny years before 1550, will be proved by "Novi Teftamenti poftrema editio, per Erafmum," &c. anno 1527; which is now before me, and where it frequently occurs; as alfo in another book, "Pub. Ovidii Nefonis Metamor. phofeon," anno 1543. Nay, fir, in fome cafes, I hold it to be more early in ufe than the comma, as I have a miffal, from its appearance printed in England, and long before the books aforementioned; but I cannot be affured as to its age, as it wants a title page, and I do not perceive a fingle comma in it: it is printed with red and black ink, the colon is frequently ufed, and is made in a diamond-like form. As for the femicolon, I muft allow that in the fenfe it is now ufed, I do not find it in any of thefe books, but in the Teftament, and Ovid, it is ufed as an abbreviation; as in namq; neq; quicunq; &c. in the fame fenfe I find it ufed in "Joannis Calvini Commentaria Integra in a&a Apoftolorum," 1563; “D. Erafmi Rotorodami Opus," &c. anno 1554, and in Ovid a very free ufe is made of this abbreviating femicolon, in almost every line, in fuch words as thefe, where the laft fyllable begins with a q, as conditaq; intybaq; fummifoq; &c. but in the fenfe it is now ufed, I do not even find it in "Fox's Acts and Monuments," black let ter, 1541. In hopes that fome of your correfpondents, more competent to the task, will give fome further elucidations on the fubt, I remain yours, &c. fireet, March 22. W. A. S. concerning the literary illumination of the Scots and the Irish at a very remote period in the dark ages of the history of modern Europe. The Irish pretend that their ifle was the feat of learning and civility, at a time when ignorance and barbarifin prevailed in every neighbouring country. The Scots have not yet ceafed to fet up fimilar pretenfions in favour of their ancient Hebudian seminary of Jona. In Germany, in France, even in Italy, the pretenfions of both Scots and Irish are, in part, allowed; the Germans have not been afhamed to refer their first acquaintance with the principles of chriftianity to the preaching of a Scottish apoftle; monafteries have been erected abroad, in favour of the Scots and Irish, as monuments of that light which these infular regions are believed to have once fent forth, to enlighten the world. And yet, when historical research, qualified to diftinguish between adequate evidence and that which is unfatisfactory, reviews the records of those diftant times, the discovers no distinct veftiges of the boafted illumination of Ireland and the Hebudian Isles. Works of art, treasures of learning, arrangements of science, fuch as might unequivocally demonftrate the exiftence of fuch an ancient illumination, are looked for in vain. Though a Gibbon have been betrayed to adopt the fables of a Boëce; though a Johnfon could not view the ruins of Jona without having his feelings impressed with a religious awe, and exalted by a fervent enthufiafin; though a Vallancey have not difdained to patronize the Milesian age of Irish history, yet must candour almost concur implicitly with feepticism, in rejecting all thofe as mere vague and general probabilities which are found to want the fupport of clofe and particular evidence. Amidst thefe difficulties, I am inclined to flatter myself, that I have been sufficiently fortunate to discover from what fource have arifen these too extravagant accounts of the early learning of the Scots and Irish, which have been fo widely propagated, without being perfectly just. If the influence of the christianity of the dark ages can be accounted to have been at all akin to knowledge or civility, then must we grant the Scots and the Irish to have poffeffed at leaft this one advantage of an enlightened people, at a time when the Anglo-Saxons of Germany and Britain Scots and Irish early Literature difcuffed. Britain were utter ftrangers to it. Chriftianity was diffufed among the Celtic in habitants of Britain and Ireland, while the Romans remained masters of Britain. From the western fhores of Britain were its preachers conveyed to Ireland, ere yet the Pictish and Scottish tribes of the north of Scotland had been converted. The Irish, at a time when, of the inhabitants of thefe Ifles, only they and the ancient Britons were chriftians, fent out apoftles, by whom the gospel was propagated in the Hebude, and among the Scots of Argylefhire. But, it was not till after thefe events had paffed, that the Norfemen of Scandinavia, the Teutonic tribes of the north of Germany, or the AngloSaxons of England, embraced the chriftian faith. The Norfe-men, or Danes, were, in various inftances, converted and baptized by the Irish and the Hebudian Scots, whom their frequent defcents, from time to time, harraffed and fubdued. The Anglo-Saxons of England are recorded by Bede, to have had the gofpel preached to them, by miffionaries from Jona, as well as by Austin, and those others who followed him from Rome. Boniface, one of the most diftinguished apoftles of the northern Germans, is, by thofe Germans themselves, believed to have been a Scotfman. In the court of Charlemagne in England, in different places on the continent, eminent Scotsmen from Jona, and of the difciples of the famous Columba, are known to have, about a thousand years fince, flourished. Now, Sir, permit me to apply this detail of facts to the folution of that hiftorical problem which I have above stated. It is from their having been chriftianized before the Saxons and the ancient Scandinavians, that the Scots and Irish have derived the praife of an earlier literary illumination than was enjoyed by their neighbours. Ignorance is often prone to extravagant admiration. They to whom christianity was firft communicated, through the intervention of the Scots, venerated and praised their inftructors, as the most enlightened of mankind. The miffionaries of Rome, while they rejected, as heretical, the christianity of Ireland, and of Jona, yet could not deny its existence, nor refufe to the Scots the praife of being nearer to the kingdom of heaven than the Anglo-Saxon heathens. This praife thus acquired by the early chriftianity of the Scots, was, in the course of thofe dark ages which fucceeded, continually augmented by high pretenfions on . the one hand, by ignorance, gratitude, 413 and fuperftition on the other. Not till after knowledge had been revived throughout Europe, did the tales in which it was commemorated begin to be disputed. Hiftorical fcepticifm would reject the whole as fiction. Candid investigation difcovers that there is, indeed, a real form, but one invested with falfe colours, and to the eye, enlarged to an unreal, gigantic loftinefs by the mifts through which it has been feen. The following propofition, then, may be henceforth regarded as a genuine hiftorical truth. "The Scots and Irish, who were converts to chriftianity, fooner than the Scandinavians, have, from these circumftances alone, derived that praife of early literary illumination, which has been eagerly claimed by themselves, attributed to them by many others, but now, at laft, generally denied to them, fince the age of more difcriminating historical refearch had its commencement. St. Andrews, May 17, 1798. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, TH HE facility with which bank notes, efpecially thofe of one and two pounds value, are now paid and received, has been the means of introducing into circulation a number of forged ones, of the above defcription. The confidence which the public has hitherto repofed in the bank of England is likewife increased by an erroneous opinion, which many perfons entertain, that all bank notes are received as fuch at the bank, fome thoufands of pounds being appropriated every year by the company, to meet the lois they fuftain in confequence of forgeries. As the nominal value of forged notes, however, is not allowed by the bank, but the perfon to whom they can be traced back, is the fufferer, it is certainly a matter of fome confequence for each individual to adopt fome method which may enable him to afcertain, with ease and precifion, of whom he has received any particular bank note. This may, in general, be done by writing on the back of each note, at the time of receiving it, the name of the perfon from whom it is received. I have always practifed this method myfelf, writing the name of the perfon in fhort-hand, which requires but little time, and takes up confiderably lefs fpace than common-writing, and enables me, at any future period, to trace every note back again, to the person from whom I received it. Were the above meafure generally practifed, it would prove, |