As a pretty strong internal prefumption too, of the justice of my claim, I may add, that the political principles of the old British Whigs may be diftinctly traced in both works*. In thofe principles I was educated; and I mean to hold them, till I can difcover in fome other fyftem (what has never yet appeared) a better medium between the extremes of anarchy and defpotifmn; a fet of principles better calculated to reconcile the neceffary vigour of the executive government, with the facred and indubitable rights and privileges of a free people. What were Mr. Wadftrom's political principles, does not very clearly appear in the Effay on Colonization; for I make nothing of an ingenious quibble foifted into the last sheet, after I had finished the whole work, by a certain able and elegant writer, who almoft immediately, quoted it back again into a performance of his own. But that Mr. Wadftrom's principles were not thofe of a British Whig, either of the old fchool or the new, might be proved irrefragably from his pamphlets. And whether or not, they were fuch as became an "eftimable citizen" of France, as Mifs Williams ftyles him, may be gathered from his "Plan for a Free Community," &c. printed in the year 1792. "As yet (fays he, p. 9.) there doth not appear the leaft profpect of true civil liberty; nor does it feem at all probable, that when it fhall appear, it will for a long time make any confiderable progrefs in Europe.""But, on the contrary, it is evident that flavery is now much greater than it has ever yet been."-At p. 44. the British are ftyled an illuftrious people ;" magnanimous nation ;"- the FREEST, the most illuminated, confequentlythe grand. eft, the most NOBLE people in Europe!" On the preceding page, Mr. Waditrom gives to Great Britain, under the name of the "first nation in Europe," all the honour of "undertaking to abolish the vile traffic in human flesh," without one particle of the notorious infamy of pushing that fame traffic to a greater extent than all Europ befide!! Does not all this fmell fomewhat of the courtier? Mifs Williams has "heard him mention," and fo have I, many times," his having had frequent perfonal intercourfe with the late King of Sweden;" and I once faw him in the drefs of that court. In common with other perfons of far greater knowledge of the world, I have experienced his courtly addrefs. I could mention a notable inftance--but,tranfeat. The fubject fuggefts to my mind some reflections, which might perhaps be not improperly fubjoined ; but I fear I have already trefpaffed the limits, which you allow to articles of this kind. I am, Sir, Your most obedient fervant, WILL DICKSON. No. 41, Great Titchfield-fireet, November 5, 1799. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine." SIR, FIND from your laft number, that paper has lately been made in Germany from the conferva. In the present fcarcity of the ufual materials, and confequent advanced price of paper, it gives me much fatisfaction to learn that a fair trial is likely to be made of converting a whole genus of vegetables hitherto applied to no ufe, into an article of fuch intrinfic value and of fuch vaft confumption. Without withing to deny the merit of difcovery to the German profeffor, it is but juftice however to obferve that this very manufactory is one of the artes deperdite of our own ifland. In Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, the following account is given of the ufes of the conferva bullofa, or craw filk. "It is of a foft fubftance, and in pure water, where the threads grow long, refembles tow. But in muddy waters, where they are fhort, it is not unlike cotton; which being carefully collected and dried, turns whitifh, and has fometimes been ufed instead of it, either as wadding to ftuff garments with, or to make towels and napkins. We have also seen a coarse kind of paper made of it at Edinburgh." Other writers alfo have mentioned the filky texture of the fibres of this plant, and of its having been used to ftuff beds with, and fpun into fine thread as a fubftitute for filk and cotton. See Dillenius, Weis, Haller, and Bomare. If any of your readers, who are not botanifts, fhould wish to make experiments on this fubftance, it may be of use to them to know that it may be met with in great abundance in alinoft every ditch and pool, efpecially old clay pits, and in moft flow ftreams. In cold weather, it is always below the furface of the water, and forms a mals of yellowish-green fibres, very fine, and interlacing each other in every direc5 T tion. tion. In fummer it rifes to the furface in large fleece-like maffes, commonly of a deep-green colour, and a fpungy texture, inclofing numerous globules of air, to which it owes its buoyancy. If raked out of the water, and expofed for a few days to the fun, it lofes its green colour, and becomes very tolerably bleached. I am, &c. For the Monthly Magazine. A. ASSO in fome meafure retrieved with are characters, which, from the prejudice of education, are of very difficult management. But the poet has fo blended the ftrong and the beautiful, the brave and the tender, that not even the exceis of modern effeminacy can feparate the fubject of its terror, from the object of its admiration. Thus, the first introduction of Clorinda is in an act of benevolence and fympathetic feeling, for a fufferer of her own fex; and the at once engages our gratitude and admiration, by exerting the influence which her valour commands, in The file character of Italian poetry; and the prevention of a deed which her huma if it were not for fome unfortunate paffages, want. At least, Taffo has more of nature and character, than either of his predeceffors in Italian epic. And though he have not quite exorcifed the land, he has, at leaft, confined the evil fpirits in a limited circle; and not permitted them to wander to and fro upon the earth, to intrude themfelves on all occafions, to infpire every paffion, and conduct every action, that the hiftorian of the country records. Taflo poffeffes neither the majefty of Homer, nor the dignity of Virgil; but excels both in the excitement of intereft, and fympathetic pleasure. In the turbulence of ancient times, when the storm of war did not only rage around the palace, but beat on every private roof, this tender feeling was comparatively little known; but in the pregrefs of civilization, and the lapfe of more pacific ages, it has been matured into a delicate and refined fenfibility; it has reared its fweet head in the vales of domeftic peace, and the gales that have blown over them breathe its fragrance. Thus has Tafi mingled even his defcription of battle with fuch traits of humanity and affection, as perpetually recal the mind to fcenes of home-felt pleature. For the more easy introduction of such ideas, perhaps he invoked the aid of remale wailiors. Thele nity abhors. For the becomes the preferver of Sofrenia and Olindo; and the value of her interference is fully felt by the reader, on the perufal of their pathetic ftory in the fecond canto. And again you fee nothing of the heroifin of Gildippe, without allo perceiving, that it is always exerted as a confequence and proof of the moft tender conjugal affection. Her wreath of victory was never the barren laurel alone; But in her garland, as the ftood, You might difcern a myrtle bud.” And The Jerufalem Delivered" is much more varied in its fubject, than the Iliad ; and the unity of defign, and connection of parts, is better, than in the Æneid. Homer allows the humanity of a modern mind too little refpite from battle. Virgil, with greater variety, exhibits rather a fucceffion of ftories, than a concatenation of incidents forming one ftory. Taffo has avoided both these faults. His incidents conduct to the catastrophe; and not, like thofe of the Æneid, only to the end of a journey, where alone the circumftances which pruduce the denouement, are to commence; and his Jerufalem is ftained, but not, like the Iliad, smeared with blood. is The great blemish of Taffo's poem the frequent recourfe to fupernatural agency. And as the actors, in these cafes, are generally of infernal extraction, they involve all the abfurdity, without partici pating any of the dignity, of the gods and goddeffes of antiquity. Sometimes, in. deed, they are furrounded with a terrifie Milton.--Satan, in his infernal conclave, grandeur, that refembles the fublimity of (cant. 4.) concludes his exhortation of oppofition to the Chriftians thus: "Perifh the Chriftian camp! and e'en its ruins Perish with it!" And then follows this inundation of devils: "Nor did the God-defying fpirits wait war." But all the ingenuity of united Parnaffus has not been able to bring into con fiftent action beings poffefed of fuch difproportionate powers, as mortal man and fupernatural exiftences. The genius of Milton, indeed, has, in one part of his work, conceived and executed a plan, where beings of the most oppofite natures confpire, by the confiftent exertion of their feveral powers, to the production of one effect. The mind could not, perhaps, form ideas of greater contrait, than our firft parents, in their bower of blifs, eyed afkance by the arch-fiend, who bore hell within him, who himfelf was hell.-Yet thefe are the characters, who are to con duct the action to the cataftrophe; but, obferve they are never brought, either in oppofition or co-operation, to act on the fame fubject;-on the contrary, one is properly the agent, and the other the fubject of that agent's action. Beings of fuch totally unequal power cannot be introduced, as acting either in unifon or oppofition, without palpable abfurdity. Mere man must act by natural means;if he be oppofed by a being endued with fupernatural means, there is but one way for the contest to terminate; and if he be aided by fuch a being, his own action is totally unneceffary. An example will fhew how far thele obfervations are applicable to the poem of Taffo. In the roth canto, Ifmeno conveys Soliman to Jerufalem in a flying chariot, which bears them high over the hoftile camp and, without the chance of a wound, fets him do vn at the mouth of a paffage, that conveys him fafely to the council-chamber of the king. In the 12th canto, this master of the flying chariot, when the nocturnal ex, edition of Clorinda and Argante is projected, ftays them till be forms a combustible compofition, by which they may, with greater fafety and expedition, fet fire to the great machine. It is acknowledged to be an expedition of imminent danger, to which the king very reluctantly expofes the great defenders of the city. One of them executes the project at the expence of her life, the other at the peril or his, without Ifmeno ever once thinking of his flying chariot, with the ufe of which the most infignificant animal of the garriton might have fecurely performed, what, without it, loft to the caufe one of its beft and braveft defenders. Numerous examples of fimilar incongrui. ties might be adduced; but this will fufficiently explain what is meant by the principle. Thefe miraculous agencies of Taffo, and Ariofto,that ftamp monftrous deformity however, are not, like the wonders of Dante on the whole; but,like preternatural excrefcences, a blemish on the face of beauty. of the poem crowns his labours with the The enchanted foreft, where the hero feats of a wood cutter, needs only to be mentioned to be ftigmatized with puerility. fkill and delicate difcrimination of the But even in this, how confpicuous is the poet! The heroes, who, in the abfence of Rinaldo, attempt to break the spell of pofed by objects of terror and alarm. the enchanted wood, are fuccefsfully opAnd when Rinaldo himfelf, prepares for the attack, we expect either a tedious reful increase of horrer:-but are agreeably petition of terrific defcriptions, or a dreadfurprised to find filing pleafure, and enchanting beauty; for even the devils themfeem to acknowledge, that the hero of the felves defpair of frightening Rinaldo ; and Gierufalemne is to be allured, not deterred, from his purpofe. What a beautiful paffage is the firen fong of early love! from being uttered by a creature in the (canto 16. ft. 14.) but how is it deformed, form of an enchanted parrot! It is, however much to be lamented, that when Armida metamorphofed a band of heroes, in the 10th canto, fhe did not frock her endue them with the melody of finging aviary with them, inftead of a pond, and birds, rather than the mutene's of fishes. The abfurdity might then, like that of the enchanted parrot, have been veiled in beauty; "Myfterious veil of brightnefs made, That's both the luftre and the fhade." But what light is there to gild that impertinent epifode of miracles, concerning Sueno, Prince of Denmark, in canto &? or the long genealogy and future offspring of Rinaldo, with which the 17th canto is encumbered, only for the purpose of conveying moft grofs flattery to the patron of the poet; and which reminds us of nothing poetical, but the difgrace to poetry in Horace, and Virgil's mean adulation of a man ftill more perfidious than Alphonfo of Ferrara. Upon the whole, however, though the beauty and elegance of Tafso are obscured, they are not eclipfed by his abfurdities. And the reafon, perhaps, why Taflo is not more read, and his beauties more admired, may be the little intereft, and less complacency, with which we regard the events of the croifades, or the fortunes of their heroes; whole greatest merit, per SIR, CORRESPONDENT, M. J. S. at A page 692, in the laft Number of your excellent Magazine, wishes fome in formation concerning the nature and refult of the obfervations made by VIDAL on the planet Mercury, and inferted by LALANDE in the additions to the Connoiffance des Tems for the VIII. and IX. years (1799 and 1800). From the paffage in Lalande's History of Aftronomy for the year VI. given at page 433 of your Magazine for July laft, the lovers of aftronomy muft naturally have had a defire to poffefs the great and highly valuable aftronomical information contained in thefe annual additions or fupplements to the French Ephemerides; and I have to lament the interruption to their regular inaportation into this country, at leaft my bookfeller in London fo informs me, and, though continually defired, has only been able to procure me the Connoif fance des Tems for this year (23d September, 1799, to 23d September, 1800), fince that for the year 1793.-It is to be lamented that the Crufade carrying on against French principles fhould operate against French fcience alfo.-I can, therefore, but imperfectly fatisfy the wifhes of M. J. S. but fhould none of your correfpondents, lefs unfortunate than myfelf, fend you a more fatisfactory account of Vidal's obfervations, you will, perhaps, oblige me by inferting the following fhort notice of thefe obfervations; for you would hardly, I fear, find room for the obferva. tions at length: they confift then of a feries of obfervations made at Mirepoix, in March, April, and May, 1797, during a compleat revolution of Mercury round the Sun, and on each day is given the time of Mercury's palling the meridian, and its meridian altitude; the time of the Sun's pafling the meridian, and meridian altitude on each corresponding day, together with the time of fome neighbouring large itars paffing the meridian, and its meridian altitude; with the height of the baro meter and thermometer at noon, of each day of observation.-To those who are acquainted with the difficulty, at most times, of making obfervations on the planet Mercury, on account of its nearnefs to the Sun, the importance of these obfervations will appear very great. It appears that the acute eye of VIDAL obferved Mercury in its tranfit over the meridian on the 21st of April, but four minutes after the Sun's paffage! LALANDE has juftly celebrated thefe rare and difficult obfervations. rect an error which crept into your MagaWhile I am writing, I beg leave to corzine for September laft refpecting great floods in the county of Bedford, particularly in the neighbourhood of Shefford, as no event of that kind happened; the impofition was first, I believe, practised on a refpectable newspaper, and thence found its way into yours, and most other periodical works. I am, Sir, tat; Your conftant reader, October 10, 1799. For the Monthly Magazine. Nec fanè omnia referenda ad vim Fati pufed effe aliquid in nobis. Apuleius de Dog. Plat, HAT the opinion of Homer, con Tcerning Fate or Deftiny, coincides with the doctrine of thofe Stoics, who con fider it as the fupreme power of the univerfe,, has been afferted by Cicero, and, after him, byCudworth, and Shaftesbury*. This affertion does not feem to be fup. ported by facts: Homer allows that there are certain fixed laws of nature ordained by the governor of the world, and acting in fubordination to him; but he no where affirms, as has been done by Seneca and of the gods themselves, is placed under others, that the will of man, and even the abfolute controul of a fatal neceffity. The particular paffage of his writings, upon which they have founded their affertion, is as follows: Ω μοι ἐγὼν, ὅτε μοι Σαρπηδόνα, φίλτατον ἀνδρῶν, Homer. Had. lib. xvi. v. 433Ah me! that my for, Sarpedon, deareft among men, thould be doomed to * Vide Cicero de Divinatione, lib. 2; Cudworth's Intellectual System, book 1. chap. 1; and Shaftesbury's Moralifts, part i. fect. 2. die by the hands of Patroclus! Pondering in my mind, I am unable to refolve whether I fhould fnatch him alive from the bloody field, and place him amongst the wealthy inhabitants of Lycia, or fuffe. him to be flain by the fon of Menoetius." Here, according to thefe authors, the poet introduces Jupiter complaining that he cannot prevent the death of Sarpedon, because it had been decreed by the Fates that he was then to die. It appears to me, that the paffage will scarcely admit of any fuch interpretation. The two firft lines of it do, indeed, convey an idea of this kind; but, from the fequel, it is evident that Jupiter acknowledges no power fuperior to his own will. Had it been decreed by the Fates, that Sarpedon was, at that very time, to fall beneath the fword of his enemy, and that even his divine father fhould not fnatch him from the jaws of deftruction, Jupiter would never have deliberated in this manner. In this cafe, deliberation must have been abfurd. The reply of Juno to the fpeech which has now been quoted, affords a farther illustration of the fubject, She demands of Jupiter," If he intends to redeem from death a man due to the Fates ?" This interrogation plainly fhews that Homer regarded Definy as placed under the immediate controul of the Father of DAVID IRVING. the Gods. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, OBSERVE in your number for June I laft, a question put to Dr. MITCHILL, how pot-ath-cake is made? The queftion refers, I fuppofe, to the mention of that fort of bread in his letter to Mrs. F. printed in the magazine for April last. A query by fo refpectable a perfon as Mr. C. Loft, certainly deferves an anfwer, and I fhall give him one in a manner as fatisfac tory, I hope, as can be expected from a female of fome experience in houfe-wifery, though of but fmall acquaintance with letters. I have examined feveral of your English books of cookery, where receipts and directions are given for making a great varety of good eatable things, but do not recollect to have ever obferved in the CHAPTER OF CAKES, any compofition of the kind we call in America pot-afb-cake. On this account, I the more readily undertake a reply to Mr. Loft, as I flatter myself the account I am about to give will furnish a new receipt to Mrs. Glafs's Collection, and that for the future this kind of cake may make a figure in all compilations of the kind. In undertaking this task I do not mean to prefume too much upon my own powers. I have therefore collected information from many difcreet houfe-keepers of my acquaintance, who understand the manufacture of pot afb-cake. And the hiftory I give you of it, may be confidered as genuine, and the refult of our joint experience and knowledge. I have also conversed with profeffor Mitchill on the fubject, and have availed my felf of his manner of explaining and interpreting the bufinefs. He is an old hand at this fort of difcuffion. WhileI was a very little girl, I was much pleafed with a letter of his to a young lady, I believe in the year 1788, on the " Philofophy of Houfe-keeping," wherein he explained the mystery of bread making, in a plain and familiar manner. This piece was published by Mr. Carey in a periodical work, called the American Museum, and indeed circulated through the United States in many of the beft newspapers of that time. I have heard fome of his hearers fay too, that five or fix years ago he used to give a lecture or two, during his annual courfe on economical chemistry in Columbia college, on the principles of cookery; a fubject fince fo nobly, fo advantageously difcuffed by COUNT RUMFORD. I have heard the PROFESSOR exprefs his high admiration of the COUNT and his writings, which he confiders as fupereminently conducive to public good and private utility. I think it is a pity that they two were not perfonally acquainted, that they might lay their heads together about things. The cake under confideration is called pot-ash cake, because pot-afh is one of the articles which enter into the compofition of caufe it can be made fo handily, or in fo it. They call it likewise handy cake, beSome perfons quick and eafy a manner. too have named it Long Island-pound cake, upon a fuppofition that the inhabitants of that large and pleasant ifland, in the State the ufe of it. This, however, is a mistake, of New York, were peculiarly addicted to for the women on the continent, for a hundred miles up the country, to my certain knowledge, make as much pot afb-cake, eat as much in their families, and love it as well, as the Long-Ifland women do. lows: Take of good wheaten flour two A good receipt for this cake is as folpounds, of butter half a pound, of fugar half a pound; add to these a heaped teaform of pot-afh or pearl afh, that will hifs fpoonful of falt of tartar, or any other when vinegar is poured on it. The potafh must be diffolved in a little water be fore |