Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

For the Monthly Magazine. An ACCOUNT of the BEGINNING of 1D0LATRY amongst the SONS of ADAM; translated from the PERSIAN HISTORY of KHONDEMEER, and originally pub lished at CALCUTTA, in the MISCELLANY of MR. GLADWIN.

HIS subject having given rise to a as this

abridgment would not contain all the traditions that have been produced in support of those opinions, I shall only deliver, in a summary manner, one of them, which appears to be nearest to truth.

It is related, that Enoch had an intimate friend, who bad been instructed by hearing his philosophical discourses; and after Enoch's ascension into Heaven, this friend bewailed the separation with lamentations and groans, so that his days were spent in grief and misery. This having come to the knowledge of Satan, he went to him, and said, "If you desire it of me, I will make for you an image, which shall be such an exact representation of Enoch, that from beholding it, your mind shall be relieved from its present distress." The man accepted of Satan's proposal, who performed his promise; and the grief of the friend of Enoch was greatly mitigated at the sight of the image. And he placed the image in a room of his bouse, where no one went but himseif, and every evening and morning he comforted himself with the sight thereof.

It happened that the friend of Enoch died in that room, where he had placed the image. And when, after some days, he had not been seen by his neighbours, they came to search his house, and found him dead by the side of the idol. The men were astonished at the sight, and immediately Satan appeared amongst them, in a human shape, and said unto them, Enoch and this man, who was his friend, worshipped this image, who is the Lord of the universe; on which account they obtained their wishes." The temptation of the devil having made impression upon his audience, they each

of them formned an idol like unto that. image, and gave themselves up to idolatry.

The son of Lamech, the son of Methusalem, the son of Enoch. He was the first prophet who denounced unto the unbelievers the punishments of hell; and he was the first by whose curse a multitude of them perished. In the day of resurrection, he will be the second person raised from the grave. No prophet lived to so great an age as Noah.

The nations being at this time univer ally addicted to the sins of giving companions to God, worshipping of idols, blasphemy, and every other species of wickedness, God raised up the prophet

repentance. According to tradition, he continued for the space of nine hundred and fifty years, to point out the true road to the sons of Adam; at the expiration of which period, finding only eighty persons that had faith in his doctrines, and experiencing great trouble and vexation from the unbelievers, he despaired of effecting their reformation; and therefore prayed God to extirpate every soul of them from the face of the earth. God having approved thereof, a voice came unto Noah, saying, "Plant the Sabin tree, and employ thyself in making, an ark; for I will entirely destroy these, people with water, and commit them all to the flames of hell,"

It is related, that Gabriel brought unto Noah a young sapling of the Sabin tree, and instructed him how to plant it. After forty years growth, when that tree was arrived at perfection, Noah felled it, and when it was dry he cmployed himself in building the ark. The ark consisted of three stories; the upper one was allotted for the birds; in the bottom story, were placed every kind of beast in pairs; and the middle apartment was the habitation of Noah and his family, being in all eighty persons. And Noah, at the command of God, having put the body of Adam into a coffin, carried it with him into the ark.

And at that time, the sun, the moon, and the planets, came into conjunction in a watery sign, when, by command of the high God, the waters continued to rise out of the earth, and the rain fell from the heavens incessantly, for the space of forty days and forty nights, till the whole earth was delaged. It is related that Noah had an idolatrous son, named Yiam, (also called Kanaan), who, notwithstanding

notwithstanding all the warnings and commands of his father, would not con-, sent to go into the ark; saying, he would take refuge in the mountains, where he should be safe from the waters; therefore that youth, and his mother, who was named Wauilah, not giving faith to Noah, were both drowned.

Historians agree in describing the inundation as having been so excessive, that the waters rose to the height of forty cubits above the tops of the most lofty mountains; and they say, that even then they did not reach above the knee-pan of Awj Ben Unuck, although he was not arrived at his full growth.

The ark, having gone round the earth several times, it at last rested on the top of mount Ararat. The rain ceased; and the earth, after six months, having soaked up the water, Noah, and all the living creatures came out of the ark on the second day of the month Ramzan.

The family of Noah built a city at the foot of mount Ararat, and called it Sukel-Samaneen. And it came to pass, after a short space of time, out of those eighty persons, there were only left Noah, and his three sons, with their wives.

Noah lived two hundred and fifty years after the flood; he was two hundred and fifty years old when he received the gift of prophesy; and he preached for the space of nine hundred and fifty years. The days of Noah were one thousand four hundred and fifty years. And be left behind him three sons, Japhet, Shem, and Ham, from whom the whole human race are descended.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

A

SIR,

S public speaking discovers itself by the signs of voice, countenance, and gesture, to be a beautiful copy of correct conversation, that system, which, by analogous methods, proceeds from the best portraits of the original, to explain the numerous successions of these signs, must be the most steady mode by which we can attain a just and graceful elocution. Of this nature appears to be the study of inflexion. It is lamentable, however, to observe, that, notwithstanding the very great advantage which such a theory must afford to the admirers of the science, its efficacy is not generally understood, and, consequently, it cannot be properly appreciated.

A slender converse with logical deduction, will inform the student, that phraseology is made up of certain members,

or clauses, which modify, and of others, which are modified; and the same communication will also discover to him, that the characteristic feature of the voice, in the pronunciation of a propo sition, indicates either continuation or completion. As therefore the less signification of one or more clauses may be. restrained, or altered, by the power and influence of others more significant; so in the delivery, that the progress and com. pletion of a whole passage may be gradually conveyed to the ear, the attention must be kept alive, by suitable degrees of suspension in the voice. If from this we take a more enlarged view of oral sounds, we shall find, that in the arrangement of diffuse periods, there may be members, whose completeness as to meaning, have certain degrees of intonation; and which, to indicate their just relations to a whole, terminate with proportionate qualities of sound.

Thus, in the most rude and uncultivated appearance of the subject before us, are we sensible of something like leading principle and rule; but the indefinite idea of sound, and its relation to articulate voice, seems to have involved the thoughts of those hitherto interested in the enquiry, in considerable obscurity. For this reason, perhaps, the method of conveying information to students in elocution, have not been sufficiently per tinent.

Numerous instances may be adduced, wherein the spirit of a proposition, depends more upon the peculiar turn of voice, than upon that stress which assists in placing varieties in contradistinction one to another. This has been successfully pointed out by the late Mr. Walker; and what an ingenious writer, in the middle of the last century, had advanced on marks or signs, for the management of the voice in enunciation, seems not yet to have eluded our enquiry on that subject, nor is the adoption of such minute arrangement, considered metaphysically, impracticable. That the Greeks had instrumental accompaniment to their tragedy, is adequately attested, and universally believed; but whether it were an exact representation of speaking sounds, or whether it were only a mere musical modulation, cannot accurately be decided upon: we may, however, conceive, that, had the melody been ap propriate to the sounds of delivery, the Romans would have adopted similar modes, and a plan and scale of their notes, would have been transmitted to

us by Cicero, in his Disquisition on Sounds.

Although the accent and quantity of words, with the genuine import of simple and complex articulation, should occupy a very considerable share of the student's regard, the acquirement of these different Combinations, forms a distinct part of pronunciation; for it is possible to possess a correct idea of the proper force and accent of each individual character, separately, or independent of each other, without the capability of displaying, with just emphasis and discretion, the relative situations of words, arranged in due erder, forming discourse. In conformity, therefore, with this position, a general survey of articulate voices, will serve as a substructure to the theory of inflexion. Audible voice is produced by a set of muscles acting on the cartilaginous cavity at the top of the trachea, or wind-pipe, called the larynx, while the air is passing through the glottis. When the recurrent nerve, on one side of the larynx is cut, the voice becomes remark ably weaker; when both are cut, it is entirely and irrecoverably lost. Articulation is either a definite, or indefinite, quality of sound, modified by the palate, teeth, lips, nostrils, and cavities of them. When the common current of breath, is urged more forcibly through these various apertures of articulation, without much affecting the larynx, we have an instance of the indefinite sound, known by the name of the whisper. What is termed hoarseness of voice, proceeds from various causes, foreign to the present purpose. It may not, however, be unnecessary for the student to know, that anatomists state, when the larynx is injured, the air though the cartilages acted by the muscles, passes through the wind-pipe, without yielding the ordinary sound. In audible voice, then, the air, while passing from the lungs to the mouth, must affect the larynx. We may have an opportunity of further deducing, by experiment, that, from the peculiar nature of the constituent parts of the larynx and its orifice, the whole diversity of sound, may be distinctly heard, though the mouth be shut; and from this may be easily conceived, that, as the sound and tone of the voice depend upon the diameter of the glottis vera, or orifice of the glorris, with the tension of its liga

[blocks in formation]

ments, and not upon the different formations of the mouth-the whole diversity, of articulation may be accomplished in any one note of a diatonic or chromatic scale of music. This idea appears to agree with that melodious arrangement of sound called singing; for the leaps, or intervals of sound, may be heard, understood, and compared, with any note of the same measurable gamut or scale, after the articulation shall have ceased. If we extend the subject to the speaking voice of man, we shall be led to suppose, that it is formed of such minute and evanescent variations and inflexions of sound, as could not possibly be represented by any scale of notes, or formula, hitherto invented. To this definition of vocal sounds, the student will further observe, that musical notes are not susceptive of the slightest elevation or depression of sound; thus, each note, however comprehensive as to time, is of the same quality from the beginning to the end; but speaking sounds are of very short du ration; they are emitted with ease through the glottis, at the pronunciation of every distinct syllable, frequently shifting at once, or gliding in a wave-like manner, through sinall" but not "immeasurable intervals; and now and then leaping from one musical note to another, considerably distant; but in all cases articulated by the affluent breath, as it is differently affected by the organs of the mouth."

[ocr errors]

In this essay, we have already had occasion to speak of certain sounds, which, in their general sense, indicate the conti nuation or completion of a thought or proposition; but as these sounds, in their fullest meaning, are discernible in a single word of four or five syllables, with a little method, the student may be readily furnished with a more determi nate idea of their more essential parts, In order, therefore, to acquire a clearer conception of these distinctions, we must select an appropriate word, and then mark the change of sound produced by the "accentuation." A little attention, while pronouncing the word, placed at the close of the last period, within the signs of the quotation, will show the distinction required. As it is perfectly easy, in this instance, to discover, that the voice signities incompletion on the three first syllables of the word de-cri

bed, viz. "accentu-" so it will not be difficult to perceive, that the terminating sound of the same word, signifying completion,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

·G

ACCOUNT of the LATE GENERAL MELVILLE. ENERAL Melville was, descended from the Melvilles of Carnbee, in Fife, a branch of the ancient and noble family of his name, of which the chief is the present Earl of Leven and Melville. The original stock of this family was a Norman warrior, one of the followers of William the Conqueror, who, on some disgust he conceived at his treatment in England, withdrew into Scotland, in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, from whom he received lands in Lothian, about 1066; and branches of his family were afterwards established on lands in Angus, and Fife.

Ge. cral Melville's parents dying when he was very young, his guardians placed him at the grammar-school of Leven, where he soon distinguished himself by a quick and lively apprehension, united to a singularly capacious and retentive memory. From this seminary, his rapid progress in Iris studies enabled him to be

early removed to the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, where he continued to apply with the happiest success. His fortune being but moderate, he, in compliance with the counsels of his friends to select one of the learned professions, turned his views to the study of medicine: but his genius strongly prompting him to follow a military life, and the war then carrying on in Flanders presenting a favourable opportunity for gratifying his natural tendencies, young Melville could not resist the temptation. Without, therefore, the knowledge of his friends, he privately withdrew to London, where, upon a statement of his motives and determination, he was fürnished with the necessary means of carrying his projects into effect. He accordingly repaired to the Netherlands; and early in 1744, he was appointed an ensign in the 25th regiment of foot, then forming a part of the allied army. That campaign he served under Field-Marshal Wade, and all the following, up to the

peace

peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, under H. R.H. the Duke of Cumberland, partly in the Netherlands, and partly in Britain, whither the regiment had been drawn in 1745, on account of the political troubles in the kingdom. In the end of 1746, the regiment returning to the Continent, Ensign Melville, at the battle of Lafeldt, conducted himself in such a way, as to merit being selected by his colonel, (the Earl of Rothes,) to deliver to the Commander in Chief the colours of a French regiment, taken by the 25th, on which occasion he was promoted to a lieutenancy.

His regiment, after the battle of Fontenoy, was besieged in Ath, where Lieutenant Melville narrowly escaped destruction: for the enemy directing their fire at the fortifications alone, in order to spare the town, a shell from an overcharged mortar passing over the ramparts, fell in the middle of the night, when he was absent on duty in one of the outworks, on the house where he was quartered, and, piercing the roof, actually made its way through the bed he usually occupied.

On the termination of the war, Lieutenant M. proceeded with his regiment for the south of Ireland; and on the passage was shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy.

In 1751, being promoted to the command of a company in the same regi. ment, and employed in recruiting in Scotland, his unexampled success drew the notice of the commander of the forces, and he became aid-de-camp to the Earl of Panmure. In 1756, he was made major of the 38th regiment, then in Antigua, where it had been stationed for half a century, since its removal from Gibraltar.

That island had often been made a receptacle for offenders, from regiments at home; and thus its military force had long been composed of the most disorderly troops. By the indefatigable zeal of the new major, and from the perfect conviction he was able to inspire into the men, that he had their welfare, and that alone at heart, he at length, with the assistance of most of the other officers, succeeded in rendering the 38th regiment one of the most orderly in the service and detachments from it accompanied him in the attack on Martinique, as also on the invasion of Guadaloupe, where Major M. commanded the light infantry, at the advanced posts. In one of the skirmishes, which were MONTHLY MAG, No. 194,

constantly successful during an attack, after a night's march, and the surprise of a post very close to the French camp, the major was entering a house just abandoned by the enemy, when it exploded, and he was blown to a considere able distance, and taken up for dead.

From the immediate effects of this accident he soon recovered: but to the same cause must be attributed the decay of sight, with which, in his latter years, he was afflicted, and which at last ended in total irremediable blindness. In recompence for his services in Gua daloupe, Major M. was directed by the commander of the forces, (General Barrington,) to succeed Lieutenant Colonel Debrisey, in the defence of Fort Royal, which he held until the reduction of the island, when, in addition to the govern ment of that fort, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the island of Guada loupe, and its dependencies, with the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 63d regi

ment.

Brigadier-general Crump, who was made governor of the new colony, 'dying in 1760, Lieutenant-colonel M. succeeded to the government, with the command of the troops. In this situation he exerted himself to the utmost, and was at very considerable expense, in order to impress the new French subjects with favourable notions of the justice and liberality of the British government. In this attempt he was so successful, not only in the colony immediately under his command, but in Martinique, and the other neighbouring French ísland, that a secret correspondence was established with the leading people amongst the enemy, which in a great measure produced the speedy surrender of those islands to the British arms. Although a governor in chief from England had arrived in Guadaloupe, and Lieutenantcolonel M. had not only received his Majesty's leave to repair to Europe for the benefit of his health, but was at the same time promoted to the rank of colonel in the army, still resisting very tempting invitations to return home, he preferred to remain even as second in command, in the view of accomplishing his great object-the acquisition of the French colonies: which, from the intercourse he had now opened with them, must have suffered much interruption from his absence. In pursuance of these projects, Colonel M. proceeded as second in command, with Brigadier-general Lord Rollo, against Dominica, which F

was

« PreviousContinue »